This companion document challenges the hidden assumptions in popular co-creation methods. Unlike traditional toolkits that provide step-by-step instructions, it acts as a critical lens, helping facilitators recognize power dynamics, cultural differences, and knowledge hierarchies that standard approaches often ignore.
We chose to call this document a companion rather than a toolkit, because it seems to us that by definition it was beyond any toolkit’s scope to critically address the power dynamics among the different actors involved in the process. While a toolkit aims to provide you with a set of tools presented in an easy-to-use fashion, a companion’s stance is more reflective, supportive yet inquisitive.
Think of this companion as a lens that helps you be aware of your position at various stages of the process. It will help you be aware of potential biases and make sure that you create the right conditions for co-creation to happen. You don’t need to use it throughout the process, but can rather, pick it up when you need to reflect on whether you are co-creating or not. It is structured in two main sections:
Critical reflexivity, reciprocal relationships, and knowledge equity can transform co-creation from extractive consultation into genuine collaboration.
Through real stories from Nepal to Rwanda, this guide shines a light on what can happen when facilitators truly share power, compensate expertise, and let communities lead decision-making from problem definition to implementation.
Most toolkits assume visual thinking is universal, that icebreakers work everywhere, and that voting equals meaningful participation. In practice, these assumptions can exclude the very communities we're trying to serve.
This section aims to provide you with a lens to help you approach your current methods and tools with a critical stance, and help you use existing methods and tools in a more inclusive way.
Essential reading for anyone who's ever wondered if their “participatory” project is actually participatory.
Thus the Companion provides you with some considerations and principles to help you unpack the assumptions underlying co-creation toolkits and enact them in a more inclusive and democratic fashion.
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And because in the end, it is about what we do and how we do it, we include stories from the field, which share successful (and sometimes not so successful) examples from social innovation and international development projects across the world. They bring forth actors and forces from the field that shape the outcomes of any project, showcasing the agency of the facilitator during the process.
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The Cocreation Companion is a living, constantly evolving resource, shaped by practitioners from around the world. Our hope is that it continues to grow. You can contribute to this in two ways, in your preferred language: