We're at the end of March 2022, meaning that I have for about a year teamed up with change makers in the nonprofit- and labour union sector to create value among their members and target groups.
March 1st 2021 I sat down and created the VAT number for ReSearch Humanity, officially founding the company of my dreams. A couple of months earlier I had quit my exiting job at a Danish nonprofit in order to give all my focus to developing change making solutions for social actors. It sounds a bit fluffy, I know..
But the main point was that I wanted to team up with actors working with vulnerable groups or who seek to create societal change, to accelerate their work, so they could create even more change making efforts at a shorter amount of time.
Having worked in the nonprofit and labour union sector, I had experienced how daily routines and the somewhat complex dynamics of social change were putting new and innovative solutions in the corner - coining them pipeline projects that quite seldom got developed into existing projects.
I could also see how internal and external actors to the organisations wanted progressive development in regard to working closer with other stakeholders (such as government, other organisations and private companies) and the target group itself.
But while the organisations aspired to develop the best solutions and collaborate with various actors, different obstacles tended to come in the way. Being a development oriented person and loving to make diverse actors interact and collaborate, I wanted to be part of the solution to this challenge.
I knew that I wanted to team up with social actors to facilitate more effective as well as efficient development of user centered solutions, by amongst other creating a space for collaborative development of solutions with internal and external stakeholders.
In order to succeed with this, I set out on the journey to introduce more social actors to the methods of human centered development. Coupled with my project management and business development experience, I today team up with nonprofits and labour unions as a development consultant, facilitator and project manager, giving team members the space to focus and co-create value creating and change making solutions.
In the first year, I've been thrilled to collaborate with actors developing:
the basis for value based communication for young LGBT+ people
a new project, which seeks out to create more inclusive and intersectional school material and environments, and ensuring EU funding to this project
a new project addressing the barriers of gender norms and stereotypes, mobilizing young people to create awareness and change among their communities
solutions strengthening the positive experiences of being unionized
a digital booking solution to make lower the barriers of getting an STI test
a campaign addressing sexual health among overlooked populations
new user insights across target groups and clients
The benefits of co-creating solutions
The conclusion from working on these projects and with my clients for a year is that there are clear benefits for social actors to use methods for co-creation, user & human centered development and more efficient development processes. Of course not for the benefit of a great proces (which is nice), but for the sake of creating change among their communities they represent and exist for.
The core benefits can, in be summarized as the following:
Participants share their knowledge in a transparent way, giving all participants a more equal access to the insights behind the challenge etc.
By sharing perspectives among a heterogenous group, participants might be challenged on how they perceive the issue at hand, which can deepen their understanding
The specifically designed step-by-step proces, gives the team opportunity to solve complex challenges quickly, as sub-challenges and needs are mapped out and focus-points are decided upon
Decisions become more transparent, as they typically are taken in the room, and all participants take part in creating the basis for decisions
By collecting diverse perspective in the room, it becomes easier to identify and manage risks in the project or effort
Instead of lots of recurring meetings, and unstructured and slow-paced development of solutions, the team creates solutions within a specific timeframe, saving the team of resources as well as frustrations
Taken together, using co-creation and human centered development, teams create the solutions together; develop a better basis for collaboration and continuous decision-making; save time and resources; and not least strengthen internal motivation and drive as solutions take form and the team see the benefits of their efforts.
Seeing how more and more organisations integrate such processes into their work, I am certain we'll during the next couple of years see a boom in more creative, co-creational development of solutions and efforts that integrate and put their target groups at the center of all processes.
I'm definitely here for it, and I hope you are too!
Regardless, I invite you to follow along to see how more organisations and social actors take on the role as rolemodels in developing a more social, inclusive and sustainable future.
Follow ReSearch Humanity via the social media bar below to get inspired to how you can strengthen the co-creative processes in your organisation or company
