WP3: Co-designing Inclusive Participation
OUR PLANNED PILOTS
Led by the University of Birmingham, this is a hands-on work package where we co-design participatory spaces with different groups experiencing intersectional oppressions and historically marginalised in society. This mean we are not just inviting our participants to a participatory process designed by us but rather we are shaping these spaces with them as participants, co-designers and co-evaluators.
We are testing a range of arts-based approaches across seven pilots to see if and how they can help us strengthen inclusion and agency in participatory democracy. But we’re not going to do this in a vacuum. We are working closely with local stakeholders and community groups, building on the work they already do and linking our project to live policy agendas.
The aim is for these processes to help generate culture change towards more inclusive and participatory policymaking that puts the experience of marginalised groups at the centre.
As part of this work package partners from King’s College and Lancaster University are leading on a scoping review of arts-based methods for social change. The findings will inform the pilot co-designing principles to strengthen intersectional inclusion.
UK
University of Birmingham
POLICY FOCUS
Equitable access to work experience and youth employment - agreed with the West Midlands Young Combined authority (YCA)
PARTNERS / STAKEHOLDERS
West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA); YCA; Youth Focus West Midlands; Birmingham City Council; legislative theatre practitioner and award winner Katy Rubin; Legislative theatre facilitators Sam Dixon and Lee Grant
PARTICIPANTS/ CO-DESIGNERS
A diverse group of 15 young people from across the West Midlands (14-17 years old) recruited through local youth groups, community organisations and schools
METHODS
Legislative Theatre; participatory research
Portugal
University of Lisbon
POLICY FOCUS
Social wellbeing
PARTNERS / STAKEHOLDERS
Lisbon City Council (Culture, Participation, and Mobility departments); Terra Amarela; Acesso Cultura; Centro de Vida Independente; Fundação LIGA; Centro de Medicina e Reabilitação de Alcoitão; IMT- Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes; Members of Parliament; activist groups
PARTICIPANTS/ CO-DESIGNERS
As Niepce's NGO, People with disabilities
METHODS
Legislative Theatre; dance
Czech Republic
Czech Academy of Sciences
POLICY FOCUS
Community awarness and responsibility regarding problems of toxic masculiny, manosphere, and digital vulnerability of selected social groups (teenagers, youg male adults)
PARTNERS / STAKEHOLDERS
City of České Budějovice – European Cultural Capital 2028.
PARTICIPANTS/ CO-DESIGNERS
Young adult males from the City of České Budějovice, recruited through grassroots intermediaries
METHODS
Participatory performance lectures
Hungary
HUN REN Tarsadalomtudomanyi Kutatokozpont / HUN REN Centre for Social Sciences, Budapest
POLICY FOCUS
Adequate shelter for all (people with housing needs)
PARTNERS / STAKEHOLDERS
Municipality of Budapest, Municipality of the 8th district of Budapest, Budapest Methodological Centre of Social Policy and Its Institutions (BMSZKI); NGO: the Sociodrama Working Group of the Hungarian Psychodrama Association
PARTICIPANTS/ CO-DESIGNERS
People with serious housing needs living in the Kőbányai street department (K22), maintained by the Municipality of Budapest.
METHODS
The art-based methods that serve our PAR aim are sociodrama, photovoice and participatory mapping.
Ireland
University of Cork and CiviQ
POLICY FOCUS
Integrated and sustainable communities
PARTNERS / STAKEHOLDERS
Kildare County Council; Open Local Government Partnership; Community Green Forums participatory spaces
PARTICIPANTS/ CO-DESIGNERS
Ethnic minority women’s networks
METHODS
Community participatory food-based events combined with visual arts
Poland
University of Warsaw
POLICY FOCUS
Economic independence
PARTNERS / STAKEHOLDERS
Representatives of two local governments and national government; representatives of national and local NGOs supporting refugees
PARTICIPANTS/ CO-DESIGNERS
Refugees from Ukraine in Poland living in Warsaw (the largest Ukrainian community) and a borderland city/ town
METHODS
Co-designed workshops to develop a play-like and game-like framework for interactions to agree procedures for integration into the host communities
Bulgaria
ArcFund, Sofia
POLICY FOCUS
Labour policies
PARTNERS / STAKEHOLDERS
State actors: Sofia Municipal Council, municipal organisations; Ministry of Labour and Social Policy; National Employment Agency; Ombudsman office; Employers’ organisations; Trade unions; Universities, academia, NGOs and think-tanks specialised in labour policies
PARTICIPANTS/ CO-DESIGNERS
Women over 50 years of age who have experienced challenges on the labour market
METHODS
Living labs methods/ Action research , artistic, emotional and visual methods (emojis, ladder, collage, story-telling, mini-play performance, etc.)
