WHAT WE DO

Policy Analysis and Research

Across the United States and elsewhere around the world, Native peoples are involved in a vibrant and enormously creative effort to advance new development strategies and governance tools that are appropriate to their cultures and circumstances.

In our conversations with Indigenous leaders and managers, two crucial policy analysis and research needs emerged: the need to document what’s working in various community development and governance arenas, and the need for reliable, rigorous analyses that tribal decision-makers can use in their drive to develop new strategies and tools. These needs underscore the fact that tribal leaders today are policy-makers whose decisions often have transformative impacts on their societies, and yet they operate without the informational and analytical resources that policy-makers at state and federal levels take for granted.

At a recent NNI executive education session, for example, a senior government representative of the San Carlos Apache Tribe said, “one of the obstacles we face as we try to solve these problems is a lack of experience, of models to think about. Where are the models? What are other nations doing out there? We need to know if it’s working and how we can use it.”

Such concerns are at the heart of the Native Nations Institute’s policy analysis and research work. Building on the pioneering work of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, NNI researchers have affirmed the conclusion that Native nation building—the construction of effective institutions of self-government that are designed to meet the unique needs and priorities of Native nations—is the key to successful development in Indian Country. Moving forward from that core finding, NNI’s policy analysis and research efforts seek:

• to more fully explain the conditions under which Native nations in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere successfully initiate and sustain social and economic development
• to expand knowledge about the issues affecting Native nations, and provide specific policy analysis and advice.
• to catalog the ways in which Indigenous leaders can continue to improve their tribes’ capabilities for self-determination, self-governance, and development

NNI researchers and analysts apply their findings to the needs of Native nations through executive education programs, strategic and organizational development, curriculum development, and various publications.

Examples of recent policy analysis and research by NNI, as well as a list of NNI’s publications, are available via the links below.

Policy Analysis Case Studies
Research Projects
Policy Analysis and Research Publications