Co-design for not-for-profit urganization

Co-design has potential to help community-based organizations deliver better services to their beneficiaries, since it encourages users to get involved in designing services that will be delivered to them. Good use of co-design could bring several benefits, e.g. ensuring that services match users’ needs. However, the extent of co-design knowledge among community-based organizations is currently unknown. Hence, this study aimed at investigating their current state of co-design knowledge in order to develop guidance to help them effectively co-design services with their beneficiaries.

This project employed a mix-method approach including a survey, interviews, case studies, and a creative workshop. This paper will discuss results of case studies conducted with five organizations, which involved observations and interviews with key staff and users.

The results revealed that the level of understanding of co-design among community-based organizations varied greatly. While most organizations have the right mindset for adopting co-design, since they are keen to listen to users’ ideas, only the minority actually involves users in designing services. The lack of awareness may be the main reason of the slow adoption of codesign. Thus, it is important to help them understand the value of co-design and how it can be used to suit their needs.