Case study:
2023 - 2025
Co-design for violence prevention in ethnic communities
Empowering communities to design solutions that work for them
Co-design | Upskilling | Communication
I played a significant role throughout this project, designing and facilitating co-design upskilling sessions for community partners and the client team who were new to design thinking. I also developed resources to support community partners in their learning and provided one-on-one coaching to guide them through the co-design process. This project resulted in eight new initiatives designed to reduce family and sexual violence.
The challenge
Research shows that family violence and sexual violence (FVSV) affect South Asian communities in Aotearoa New Zealand at notably high rates within ethnically diverse populations. One way the Ethnic Communities Violence Prevention team at MSD sought to address this was through co-design – supporting eight community partners to build co-design capability and develop violence prevention initiatives with their communities. To do this, MSD engaged our team to:
Develop a culturally responsive co-design approach for community partners
Upskill community partners to co-design violence prevention initiatives with their communities
Support community partners in delivering their initiatives
My contribution
Developing an approach
I co-led the development of a flexible co-design approach that allowed community partners to adapt the process to work for them and their communities. Existing co-design frameworks were used as a starting point, but as these are largely based on Western ways of working, they were not followed strictly. Instead, community partners were supported to decide how co-design should happen in ways that felt culturally appropriate and practical for their communities.
Upskilling sessions
I designed and facilitated co-design upskilling sessions for community partners with my colleague. As we were working with a large group over an extended period of time, we collectively created a working charter outlining how we would collaborate and interact with one another to keep everyone safe. I presented co-design concepts and developed activities that allowed participants to practice learning in a safe environment, learn from each other, and seek support when needed, before they went out and led these activities with their communities. These activities also broke up the talking, keeping everyone engaged throughout the sessions.
Resource development
For the upskilling sessions, I created a set of co-design workbooks for community partners. A key principle in their design was to avoid overwhelming readers with too much text. Instead, I kept the wording simple and concise, using diagrams and images to explain new concepts in a clear and accessible way. I also designed worksheets that allowed participants to apply their learning in a guided format, and that could be reused in future projects.
Reflection sessions
I co-developed and co-facilitated monthly reflection sessions with community partners. These sessions were structured to allow everyone to reflect on the past month, surface challenges and learnings, and support collective learning across the group. They also provided an opportunity to celebrate wins and progress, helping to keep participants motivated and excited throughout their co-design journey.
The impact
This work led to eight new violence prevention initiatives being developed by ethnic communities, for ethnic communities. Whilst it’s too early to be able to assess their impact on violence prevention, as they were co-designed, communities have been engaging well with them. Community partners reported that they have been receiving good feedback from initiative participants, high levels of engagement/attendance, and that they have begun seeing shifts in their communities around how FVSV is approached and talked about.
Throughout the process, appreciation for co-design grew. Most community partners were new to this approach and would have preferred to continue working in the ways they always had, but by the end of the upskilling process, they could see the positive impact that co-design had on their initiative development and implementation. As a result, many partners were keen to use this approach for other workstreams, and were grateful for the clear and practical workbooks.
Another outcome of this work was the relationships that were formed throughout the process. The approach was designed so that community partners would interact and learn from each other so that connections could form across communities. This led to the partners not only creating a space were they could ask each other questions, but they also began collaborating on their initiatives, sharing their expertise with each other so that they could succeed collectively.
“This pilot showed that culturally responsive, inclusive approaches can make FVSV prevention
more effective, especially in ethnically diverse communities... The community valued being part of the process. By having the opportunity to prioritise the issues that mattered most to them and co-design solutions based on their needs, the program felt more relevant and respectful, leading to greater acceptance and reducing the risk of it not being used or embraced.”
Links
Co-design workbooks developed:
More information on the South Asian Trials in Auckland: