Sauyaq Solutions
Heather Sauyaq Jean Kwamboka Gordon, PhD
Indigenous-Led Solutions for a Sustainable Future: Empowering Indigenous Self-Determination through Research, Evaluation, Partnerships, and Policy
Supporting Indigenous-led research and evaluation (including partnerships) for policy development to connect you with resources, expertise, and people you need to achieve your goals.
About Sauyaq Solutions:
I am passionate about increasing resources and opportunities for/to Indigenous Nations and communities. Our histories of colonization have taken so much from us. I seek to do research and evaluation projects that help develop policy to increase funding for Indigenous Peoples to support our cultures and languages that colonial governments have spent millions on to suppress and erase. I advocate for Indigenous led project work grounded in culture and Indigenous Knowledge.
Sauyaq Solutions has the mission of Kamagigikput Sivulliavut: "We honor our ancestors." I work to both honor my ancestors and build bridges for future generations.
My work looks at Indigenous culture as a protective factor from colonization and historical trauma, missing and murdered Indigenous relatives, how to work with Indigenous Peoples in research, environmental justice, sustainability science, futures research, climate change, food security, and subsistence rights in Alaska.
What I do: (see previous work)
I work with academic researchers,Tribal, Indigenous, federal, nonprofit, and other types of organizations
I conduct research, evaluations, and technical assistance (from grant writing, developing methodology, working with communities, and dissemination)
I hold workshops on relationship building with Indigenous populations
I hold workshops on futures visioning for Tribal Nations, companies, and more
I write grants and proposals for and in partnership with Tribal Nations and their partners
I give talks, presentations, keynotes, and emcee
I mentor Indigenous youth and scholars
I work in:
Sustainability Science
Health/Wellbeing
Climate change
Futures Research
Resilience/Adaptation
Youth Development
Indigenous Culture as a Preventative/Protective Factor
Environmental Justice and Land/Water Management in Alaska
Federal Indian Law (not a lawyer)
Boundary Spanning (between knowledge systems and academic disciplines)
Science Diplomacy (communicating research as well as Indigenous perspectives to policy makers)
I engage in:
Co-Production of Knowledge
Indigenous Methods and Methodologies
Research , evaluate, and provide training and technical assistance
Participatory Methods: (CBPR, TBPR, co-designed methodologies with community, youth participatory action research, creating and leading workshops and trainings, etc.)
Developing data collection strategies
Qualitative methods (interviews/focus groups/talking circles/ futures scenarios/ storytelling/ethnography)--analysis through grounded theory and other coding methods in NVivo or Excel software
Quantitative methods (survey design, descriptive statistics, significance tests)
Writing: grants, academic articles, reports, briefs, factsheets, community products, plain and scientific language
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