Participatory design workshops
Plans are not made behind closed doors by the experts, but in direct collaboration with the engaged stakeholders. Plans are the outcome of co-creation. Co-creation within the consultant team, but most important, also co-creation by collaboration in participating in the design process by stakeholders. Their local knowledge, interest and insights help a lot to make a plan tailor made and most effective on the ground. DASUDA’s lead partners apply various methods for series of workshops during the various stages of the design process. These participatory workshops inform the consultant with local input, end-users insights and local regulations and policies.
In a later stage in the process workshops are a tool to take a core team of representatives from the local community alongside the professional engagement and get a much richer yield of findings on design concepts, and on top of that make participants often more ‘own’ the project and understand the interventions proposed in a plan.
Besides the external participation the various DASUDA partners make projects together and in conjunction with local people in the team. This we see as use of essential local knowledge inputs (reverse knowledge exchange). Our project teams work with experienced experts that lead and do the actual key activities of the assignments. This ensures the client of the high input of valuable international experience and knowledge in the project, while with the local partners on board the local knowledge is guaranteed.
