Five tips for co-creating programmes
We were facing a unique challenge: design a programme, across seven African countries and with multiple partners, for young people with disabilities to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030.
The result is We Can Work which supports young women and men with disabilities in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal.
The programme is founded on the principles of multi-stakeholder partnerships and collaboration, local ownership, and youth in the lead. To stay true to these principles we have taken a co-creation approach to programme design. And we have seen the empathy, creativity and ownership co-creation has generated, leading to solutions that are responsive, inclusive and sustainable.
What is co-creation?
Co-creation is a participatory approach to programme design, which elevates and amplifies the voices and experiences of programme participants. It ensures that design decisions are informed by the lived experiences, preferences and unique priorities of those directly impacted by the programme. In employing this approach to programme design, We Can Work provided space for diverse perspectives to inform the shape of the programme and key interventions.
In 2023, the “co-creation year” for We Can Work, we asked young people with disabilities to actively share the challenges they experience in accessing work and consider potential solutions that would work for them. This year, we have been piloting small-scale interventions based on their suggestions.
Here are five insights taken from this process, which can help fellow NGOs successfully co-create programmes.
1. Identify the challenge
To solve a problem, you need to know what you’re up against.
Globally, only one in four people with disabilities (27%) are employed, compared to one in two people without disabilities (56%), according to the United Nations. And young people aged 15 to 29 with disabilities are up to five times less likely to access education, employment or training than their peers without disabilities. Understanding this helped We Can Work define the initial challenge:: how can young Africans with disabilities be supported to access dignified and fulfilling work?
2. Study the problem
Once the overall challenge was defined, we had to understand it deeply.
The We Can Work team conducted a barrier analysis to identify and analyse the root causes of the problem. Activities included consultation workshops, where young people with disabilities shared their difficulties accessing work and discussed social barriers.
We collaboratively explored the root causes and discussed:
- attitudes, beliefs and access to work
- representation, engagement in leadership and decision making
- community building.
3. Include a range of voices
For a collaborative approach to programme design, it is essential to hear diverse views and experiences.
For the We Can Work barrier analysis, around 250 people were interviewed, including leaders of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), human resources managers and government officials. We also held around 80 focus group discussions, featuring 530 young people with disabilities.
During this process it was vital to not only engage our programme and funding partners. Young people with disabilities, caregivers, political leaders, businesses and youth and women’s rights organisations all participated. Representatives from each country contributed, and ideas were shared across borders. This approach ensured everyone involved felt ownership of the programme.
4. Put people with lived experience at the centre
In designing the We Can Work programme, all decisions were informed by the lived experiences, preferences and priorities of those who will be directly impacted by it.
During practical co-creation weeks, we compiled ideas and evidence from previous discussions and worked closely with young people to further define the programme’s approach. Because young people with disabilities have been at the centre of decision making, the solutions put forward are more likely to be sustainable.
“Having youth in the lead, particularly in a country like Uganda where the majority are below 35, including persons with disabilities, is pivotal,” said Naome Akwee, a Disability Inclusion Facilitator from Uganda. “Their energy, confidence and firsthand understanding will drive meaningful change.”
Practical recommendations taken up for the programme include the need for a waged employment track (or training path) and an entrepreneurship track.
5. Test and learn
To co-create a programme, NGOs must be open to challenging preconceptions, embracing innovation and hearing and testing new ideas.
Using insights from our co-creation year, at the start of 2024 we began a pilot year for We Can Work and started putting theory into practice. During the year, we tested the interventions we have developed on a small scale. The lessons learned will help adapt and improve the We Can Work programme in the coming years.
What is clear from this process is that enabling participants to have a voice in projects has a profound effect on their enthusiasm for it. It is vital that people receiving support feel their voice matters and that they have a say in what their life becomes. This is how we find genuine solutions that will make a difference to people’s lives, now and in the future.
We Can Work is a partnership between Mastercard Foundation, Light for the World and the African Disability Forum.
The We Can Work Co-creation Report is available at: https://light-for-the-world.canto.global/b/TBGNR.
