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INSTRUCTIONS: Review definition of Self-Determination and Guiding Framework. Once you have done this, take 15 minutes to review and complete reflection questions.
What is Self Determination?
IHEI defines Self Determination as the ongoing right and responsibility of Indigenous peoples to decide on matters shaping their lives, health, lands, and futures. It is the foundation of Indigenous well-being and is recognized globally as a critical determinant of health and equity.
Guiding Six Principle Framework: Developed through IHEI’s community vetting sessions and partner feedback, IHEI identifies six community-defined, minimum-standard guiding principles that underpin Indigenous self-determination. These are non-negotiables, or minimum standards, for actions that claim to advance Indigenous self-determination as evidence of healing and/or replacing the colonial roots of public health institutions.
This framework centers on IHEI’s approach of relational accountability, reciprocity, and collective care as the foundation for health and data justice. It integrates both indigenous science and community-defined values, offering a living framework that evolves through continued relationship, reflection, and practice.
Through this framework, institutions are invited to move through a continuum of transformation—from Curious to Engaged, Active, and finally Transformed & Healing—engaging in decolonization as lived practice, not as a checklist.
Guiding Reflection Prompts
Which of these principles is most challenging for your organization to embody, and why?
How can institutions move from acknowledgment to structural change?
What actions demonstrate relational accountability to Indigenous leadership, land, and knowledge?
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