Stage 4 - Co-Design

Who will find this stage useful?

This stage provides tools and frameworks to collaboratively design programs that reflect local needs, strengths and aspirations, while aligning with broader partnership goals and accountability requirements.  Co-Design is an underpinning principle of community consultation, program design and delivery. 

This information is to guide practice rather than dictate.  This section is for project leads, facilitators and partners involved in designing or redesigning programs. It is particularly helpful when translating community consultation insights into practical program structures, timelines and learning experiences. 

What is co-design?

The ingredients of successful co-design

Co-design usually takes place through structured workshops where stakeholders work towards shared decisions. It draws on many elements of design thinking and Appreciative Inquiry, which you may have worked through prior to this co-design stage. Think of AI and community consultation as the way you decide on a specific path to a destination, and co-design as further consultation on how the path is actually built to the destination.  

Co-design draws on design thinking principles, including: 

• Focused on a real problem: The process continually defines and refines the challenge being addressed. 

• Driven by empathy: Specific methods are used to understand the needs, experiences and aspirations of users, including learners, families and communities. 

• Collaborative: Participants from different roles, organisations and backgrounds work together using shared language and goals.

• Clear and tangible: Visual, hands-on tools (e.g. mapping, diagrams, post-its) support shared understanding and idea development. 

• Fail-safe, fail-fast: Ideas are piloted at small scale, tested, refined and improved over time. 

How co-design works

Generally, co-design is run through a series of workshops or other collaborative meetings. A Hub or other institution may take an administrative lead role, but it is important that stakeholders have equal opportunity to contribute.  

Once the workshop logistics are set, key questions guide the process of co-design:  

1. Do we have the right people in the room?  

• Participants should include those most affected by the program, such as students, educators, parents/carers, community organisations, Hubs and university partners. 

2. Do we agree on the problem? 

• Stakeholders collectively explore how the issue shows up locally, which aspects matter most, and which assumptions may need challenging. 

3. Can we agree on an approach? 

• Drawing on community strengths and existing examples, participants identify which ideas and components best fit the local context. 

4. What are the next steps?

• The group decides what to trial first, who is involved, timing, and how progress will be reviewed and refined. 

The co-design process can be used for individual elements or a whole program. 

Navigating Stage 4

In the Hub context, it can be helpful to lay out a program logic, timeline, and scope and sequence through the co-design process. You can access a Co-Design in Practice resource, as well as exemplars and templates via the buttons below. These can also be accessed by hovering over Stage 4 across the top navigation tabs. 

Please feel free to skip sections or adapt resources to your context.