Principle 1: The community-based approach fosters trust and positive relationships among First Nations practitioners, community members, community participants, funders (YTC CFS, prov/feds), and First Nations evaluators and should be constantly developed.
Principle 2: The community-based approach builds on the strengths and capacities of children, their communities, and culture; to help contextualize the reality of children, and to create sustainable interventions that support community intervention and stabilized coordination between children’s lived experiences and systemic structures and government policies.
Principle 3: The community-based approach needs to be customized for each community; Community owned information is presented in a community-by-community manner upon completion of the information exchange and analysis phase in all communities.
Principle 4: The community-based approach needs to be strengths and empowerment based,
Principle 5: The community-based approach needs to be culturally competent;
Principle 6: The community-based approach to be in partnership with the family;
Principle 7: The community-based approach facilitates collaboration, exploration and learning around children and families’ daily lives, including the challenges they face and the resources available to support their healthy development and well-being.
Principle 8: The community-based approach needs to be balanced with professional and natural supports; Yellow Thunderbird Lodge community-based representatives gather information and learn what supports are available and what challenges exist for children and families in each respective community. At the same time, communities are focusing attention and resources on these issues, and quite naturally, ideas for improvements are emerging.
Principle 9: First Nations community-based evaluations include existing project evaluations and participant evaluations and; are intended to build community capacity, are participatory and are inclusive of all stakeholders.
Principle 10: the process needs to be non-prejudicial to First Nations political positions and aspirations.