Increase buy-in and participation

Sometimes I find that there is a lack of joined-up thinking between the analysis of problems, creation of solutions and implementation.

Program officer

Overview

Involving the people affected by a proposed project can be challenging. It demands that we make a shift from designing for to designing with. Because it is hard, we often aren't sure how and when to do it, and to ensure that  we are able to do it deeply enough.

To ensure meaningful participation, and to respectfully right-size the effort, you may want to bring a design partner into your investment who will have the explicit role of facilitating participatory processes that maximize engagement while creating safe conditions for people to share experiences and ideas.

Common outputs or deliverables

  • How do you intend to ensure meaningful and respectful participation of users/stakeholders?
  • How will you ensure that participation of key stakeholders or users in this work will not put them at any further risk if they are already in a vulnerable situation?
  • What other disciplines will be involved in guiding contextually and culturally appropriate participatory processes?
  • Do you have any experiences to share where you had to put measures into place to ensure that your effort wasn't only about extracting information for the profit of another set of users?

Tips and tricks

  • Consider how to incorporate flexibility into the project so that, if necessary, there is room to renegotiate how the project frames/boundaries are defined after starting.
  • Consider budgeting for the integration of social science expertise alongside the design expertise to support ethical and culturally appropriate participatory methods.
  • Consider how you might want to identify the people and places involved in this work so as to ensure that you are aligning more effectively with how people most self-identify.

Traps

  • Design intends to be resolutely participatory. At the same time, design firms may have different experiences with varied types of users and stakeholders. Don't assume that they can take an explicitly DEI lens without further discussion.
  • While never the intent of global health projects, that are situations where people may be unintentionally exploited? It is important to take time to ensure that your design partners has a set of protocols to ensure that this doesn't happen.

Questions for potential partners

  • How do you intend to ensure meaningful and respectful participation of users/stakeholders?
  • How will you ensure that participation of key stakeholders or users in this work will not put them at any further risk if they are already in a vulnerable situation?
  • What other disciplines will be involved in guiding contextually and culturally appropriate participatory processes?
  • Do you have any experiences to share where you had to put measures into place to ensure that your effort wasn't only about extracting information for the profit of another set of users?

Resources and links