Co-Creation 101

In an increasingly interconnected world, international development agencies like USAID can tap into the knowledge of a variety of actors with the different expertise needed to solve lingering development challenges. To do so, USAID has been exploring the use of co-creation — a participatory approach to problem-solving that brings together people from differing backgrounds and organizations.

By Carolanne Chanik, INVEST Communications Coordinator

At a co-creation workshop, attendees from different backgrounds and organizations design solutions with mutually shared benefits and value. At the end of the workshop, USAID often invites participants to submit formal proposals based on the solutions they co-created during the process.

USAID uses co-creations when it doesn’t necessarily know the specific solution it needs to solve a challenge. Co-creation allows USAID to approach a complex problem from new and potentially unseen angles. For example, the INVEST initiative supported USAID in hosting a co-creation centered on increasing women’s economic empowerment through gender lens investing and a co-creation focused on finding blended finance solutions to the problem of land degradation and deforestation in Mexico.

Check out the video below to hear advice and learnings from the INVEST team on the co-creation process.