ETHICAL CO-CREATION

Many development facilitators believe they are "co-creating" with children and young people. Despite the best intensions, this is not always the case. Often children and young people are "consulted" or "involved". 

Co-creation has broader implications and leads to better results for everyone. It offers new professional and cultural insights (e.g., about SDGs, urban spaces or democracy globally), contributes to the design of new solutions to world problems, and brings ideas to life.

Ethical co-creation has enormous potential.

Ethical co-creation requires thorough preparation. Both initial and ongoing safeguarding needs great ethical, philosophical, didactic understanding along with deep knowledge of innovation processes. The process design must ensure equality for all participants - despite their diverse backgrounds. Diversity is cultivated because it enriches us as people and leads to more innovative solutions. In addition, insight into child and youth development, cultural understanding, and experience with cross-cultural collaboration is a prerequisite. An attentive process designer is important, too, to manage unexpected events. a desire for change is essential to facilitate co-creation. Insight into basic democratic values, knowledge of human rights and political processes is a crucial skill.

Few individuals embody all these skills alone.

Therefore we develop co-creation methods and processes together with our partners to prepare facilitators the best possible way.

Methods and processes are made available in our Toolbox. Our research partners continuously evaluate the participants' outcomes and consider whether methods and processes can be optimized.

Some of our partners offer courses in ethical co-creation.

We recommend starting by considering what framework and resources can be provided for the co-creation process. For example, are politicians ready to invest time with children and young people? Is there a genuine desire to be inspired by the younger generations? Can solutions that meet the initial requirements presented be implemented or are you only interested in non-committal ideas?

We have no doubt: ethical co-creation is worth all the thought, preparation and implementation. For everyone. Everyone gets smarter and it leads to better solutions to our common challenges.


"Co-creation between young people and world leaders provides a route to more inclusive, future-focused decisions, empowering us to shape the world we will inherit."

Dan, 18, Wales