Co-Design
The theory behind co-design is that the wisdom a community needs to shape itself is already embedded within that community. It is the work of the designer is to partner with the community in order to create a space for their wisdom to emerge. When we co-design, participants are not involved as research subjects or consultants, but rather as designers engaged in active, sustained collaboration. We partner with communities to create a space designed by them, and within that co-created space, guide communities in doing the work necessary to reshape themselves. During the co-design process, we often create storyboards that plan how we're going to spend our time together, so that every minute is intentional.
Co-Design in Practice
Every year, Yostfish brings together a group of tribal community members to host an annual gathering where they learn from each other about their tribal court practices. From the beginning, we invite tribe members to participate on the design team. We meet multiple times leading up to the annual gathering, during which time the tribal communities advise us about how we can best design our time together and the kinds of spaces and structures we want to be in that reflect indigenous values. By going through this co-designing process with tribal members beforehand, we ensure that when we get to the annual gathering, it has been designed by the indigenous communities who are going to participate in it.
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If you're a community or an organization looking to boost your ability to solve complex problems, we'd love to hear from you.