WYUT Focus Groups From October to December 2023, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, June Oscar AO hosted a series of online and inperson Focus Groups for First Nations youth, LGBTIQA+ sistergirls and gender-diverse mob, women with trans experience, women with additional needs and abilities and women with expertise in driving gender equality and women-led movements and initiatives on the ground. Focus Groups were undertaken as part of Stage Three of the Wiyi Yani U Thangani project, drawing on the lived experience of participants and ensuring their insights, experiences, and perspectives are recognised and respected in laying the groundwork for the establishment of the Wiyi Yani U Thangani Institute for First Nations Gender Justice (the Institute), and the development of the Wiyi Yani U Thangani Change Agenda for First Nations Gender Justice (the Change Agenda). Focus groups were delivered in partnership with First Nations data and evaluation team at Kowa Collaboration and had a strong emphasis on gathering information on data, measurement, and evaluation approaches to be used throughout the Change Agenda and the work of Institute. This included exploring self-determined measurements for tracking change, ensuring that First Nations women’s knowledges and practices are centred and strengthen Indigenous data sovereignty and governance. ‘Measurement and data does not need to be all about numbers— it is about our heart and spirits, it is about voice, story, emotion— it is about truth. Numbers can tell us all sorts of lies. Wiyi Yani U Thangani is and always has been about voice—your voice—what you are saying about your lives, how you see your future and what matters to you.’ — June Oscar AO, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Holding these focus groups contributed to upholding the Wiyi Yani U Thangani project’s broad objective of always listening, learning and amplifying the voices of First Nations women in all diversity. It additionally contributed to Commissioner Oscar’s term goal of elevating First Nations women’s voices. These focus groups provided insights from women and gender diverse mob specifically towards the measurement, data and evaluation for the Change Agenda and Institute which greatly assisted in the development of these two outcomes. It also strengthened the project teams’ relationships with First Nations women with different lived experiences, providing the team with new learnings to drive meaningful change through the Institute. Annual Report 2023–2024 • 49