Design for participation
How does it work?
The way we’ve experienced it it, effective engagement is about 70% discovery, strategy and facilitation, and 30% luck.
Participation design is how we’re calling the intentional bit that gets the magic going. It’s a process to reveal resources, prompt creativity and inspire action.
So what does participation start with?
1. Clarify goals and set milestones.
What do you hope to achieve? What is the engagement ‘move’ part of? How will you know you’re on the right track, as you start reaching out?
2. Notice context and local narratives.
How do the people you want to gather speak of themselves and their neighbours? How do they imagine their future? What common threads come up?
3. Invite local co-creators.
A strong process is designed in collaboration with the people who have a stake in the community becoming stronger through meaningful participation.
Designing participation takes...
discovery
What are the community’s assets?
What do people in the community care about?
What might be keeping people from getting involved?
strategy
Once strengths are mapped and barriers detected, what opportunities emerge for the community?
Create a plan to set intentions, mobilise assets and boost the community’s capacity to act.
facilitation
Communities have their own needs, norms and rituals. Facilitation offers support by making it easier to convene, leveraging tools and practices for inclusive participation.
To build communities that are...
stewarded
instead of managed,
Participation deals in a volatile currency: trust. Give it consistently.
Shift the mindset from managing to stewarding communities, making space for two-ways relationships. Set the agenda together.
strategic
instead of marginal,
People who feel seen and connected speak of your impact.
Place communities at the centre of your work, as assets and co-creators. Invite them in, listen generously and build value in affiliation.
systemic
instead of mechanic.
Purpose holds people together, especially in times of transition.
Partner up within your ecosystem. Explore with allies which levers in the system you can work to move in the direction of change.