A map shows you three things: where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re going. Like a map, this brief summary lays out the past, present, and future of developing a prototype of a shift the power “Atlas”. Why did we decide to build it? Who participated? We also pay special attention to insights and lessons learnt along the way.
Finally, we present a rough sketch for the future, with many paths and opportunities yet to be discovered. A special thanks to the leadership of Butterfly Works and The Hunger Project for facilitating this working group, to all of the group members who volunteered their time and expertise, and to Partos for funding the prototype thus far.
From 2020-2021, The Hunger Project, Butterfly Works and Partos hosted a Community of Practice (CoP) for Community-Led Development (CLD) and Human-Centred Design (HCD). This CoP met regularly throughout the years, exchanging knowledge and facilitating discussion about how these approaches are key in shifting the power within international development. Just as the CoP format was eventually coming to a close, Partos launched the Shift the Power Lab 2.0.
There are a plethora of different tools and approaches being developed and tested by organisations to facilitate more equal partnerships within international development cooperation. However, it is often difficult to know where to access these tools, or how to select one that best suits your own needs. Wouldn’t it be handy to have a centralised place to find this information quickly? So, we envisioned our product as an “Atlas”: a collection of roadmaps, each giving guidance on how to navigate a certain area.
This Lab funded six working groups to develop shift the power “prototypes”, or tangible products that present practical solutions for accelerating change. Thus, the former CoP was dissolved, and instead allocated its energy and resources into developing a prototype. This is where our journey to building the Shift the Power Atlas begins.
The guiding principles of CLD and HCD can be seen as a compass that guides us in selecting and assessing the contents of the Atlas. The primary function is a repository of resources, and in this case, resources that facilitate power-shift work. Users would have one consolidated place to find a tool, product, or other materials that suit their professional goals. The Atlas comes with an index as well. A system of tags and filters helps the user to navigate through the collection, so their search is much more efficient.
Some migrated from the previous CoP, a few joined from the facilitators’ networks, and others answered Partos’ call to join a working group action.
See names and organisations below. Members came from many corners of international development, including NGOs, CSOs, institutes, practitioners, and consultants.
Six meetings took place between June and December 2022. Meetings were always online, following a co-creation process where every member had equal space to participate.
The first step to building the Atlas was to just collect as many resources as possible. All members of the group were welcome to submit materials to the repository if it fit within a Shift the Power framework. Our first tags were simply to identify what type of resources we had (toolkits, approaches, training/courses, case studies, etc.
The next step was to build the Atlas index. The group brainstormed and discussed the most useful filters that would be needed when navigating the Atlas. Some are broader, such as the general topic and/or issue. Some are much more specific, such as the cost or language of the resource. In the end, we settled on the filters listed on the site.
More functionalities were added to fully build out the prototype. The ability to rate and comment on each resource, an open search bar, and a submission page were all improvements suggested by the group.
We spread the draft prototype amongst our networks, seeking feedback on its usefulness and useability for its intended audience. With this valuable input, we could validate what was designed well and change what wasn’t.
Launched at the Partos Innovation Festival in October 2022!
After the festival, a few key issues were raised and discussed in the group. Firstly, the technical feasibility of building and maintaining the Atlas with limited budget is a big challenge. Secondly, who would own the Atlas? And does ownership incur the cost of upkeep? We want the Atlas to have a sustainable future and to be community-owned, so what does that look like? These are questions the group is thinking deeply about.
The co-creation process of the Atlas gave us many insights and lessons learnt.
It quickly became apparent that the community aspect of this product is equally as important as the product itself! Especially since this Atlas follows the principles of Community-Led Development and Human-Centred Design, the Atlas should be actively engaging and adapting to the audience this product is intended for.
Finally, the big question for us is about ownership. Who ultimately owns the Atlas? As owner of the Atlas, are you also the gatekeeper of new resource submission? Who has the authority to decide what does or does not fit into this Atlas? We are still wondering this ourselves.
The working group identified three technical must-haves for the Atlas: a description box for the resources, the ability to filter in detail, and the ability to upload a resource to the repository. Building an ideal search engine from scratch comes with a high price tag, and maintenance costs are also high. Using an online library tool can be more budget-friendly, but has many drawbacks, such as limited filtering options, inability for users to interact with resources or upload their own, and limitations in facilitating a community spirit. Using a community platform tool nurtures a community environment and can adapt easily to community needs, but it also has limited filtering capabilities and can quickly become disorganised. Finding a balance between what is needed and what is feasible is tricky.
The foundation of the Atlas is the products, materials, and other resources collected in the repository. Proper resource management is vital. Additionally, we found that the rating and comment system is an effective way of managing the resources within the Atlas. It functions as an open accountability measure against the submission committee (or in this case, the initial working group). If users find a resource does not match its tags, does not fit within Shift the Power, or is otherwise inappropriately placed, there is this mechanism for feedback which ultimately improves the quality of the Atlas.
What is the future of the Atlas? We’re still exploring! We would love to have this tool hosted on a platform and continue to be developed through the co-creation process. More resources, better filter systems, and a formalised submission process are some next steps to improve our product. As a group of mainly European-based practitioners, we have a strong bias in the types and sources of the materials already collected for the Atlas, as well as how we organised and designed the prototype. We would like to make the Atlas as inclusive as possible. Ultimately, we aim to have a self-sustaining tool that serves the development community and contributes towards the Shift the Power movement.