Introduction to Co-Design and Evaluation

First Person Consulting and White Light Education are proud to present this workshop in collaboration.

Overview

Different design approaches, such as design thinking, human centred design and co-design, have become more and more popular over the last ten years as a means of addressing complex problems. These approaches are underpinned by an emphasis on understanding and incorporating the ‘human’ that experiences problems or issues first hand. With the use of different design approaches increasing across society, there is a need for clarity over what these design approaches are, what they mean for staff who design and deliver programs that draw on such approaches.

Similarly, evaluation is a key aspect of project and program delivery, and yet it is often left to the end or is an afterthought. In some ways this occurs because of a lack of familiarity with when and how to embed evaluation into programs. Ultimately, good evaluation practice starts during the design process and provides a way to continuously improve and demonstrate impact.

This unique two-day workshop brings together the worlds of design and evaluation to provide participants with the opportunity to increase their knowledge and skills in program design and evaluation.

Why this workshop?

As a program or project leader, we will likely have a sense of the importance of an intentional approach to design and evaluation to the success of a program. However, we may not have the capacity to engage expertise in these areas when it is most valuable; the planning phase. This workshop aims to empower internal leaders with the basic principles, process and tools of design and evaluation to set projects up for the best possible chance of success.

What will you learn?

The workshop will be centred around a hands-on process of design and evaluation planning. Using a real-world case-study and in small groups, participants will step through a process to understand the problem, rapidly prototype different solutions and develop associated processes for evaluation.

Day 1

Day 1 will emphasise foundational knowledge and skills across both design and evaluation. This includes:

• outlining what design thinking, human centred design and co-design are, the differences between the three and the suitability for different contexts
• an introduction to program design and evaluation, including the role of program logic / theory of change in both
• an overview of how design and evaluation can be blended together.

Following this, participants will step through the design process using a real-world case study. Participants will be led through a range of practical exercises that demonstrate the principles, processes and tools available in the design process. This includes exploring complex problems, identifying opportunities, generating creative ideas and rapid prototyping.

Day 1 will end with small groups developing a series of concepts that will be taken forward into Day 2.

Day 2

Day 2 incorporates the final stages of our design process and some of the key stages of evaluation planning process. Beginning with a brief overview of evaluation and how it can be used at different stages of projects, participants will then select an intervention to take forward into the evaluation planning stage of the day. Activities will focus on:

• developing key evaluation questions
• identifying indicators, data sources and suitable collection methods
• identification of key needs for the evaluation, including timing of evaluation and resourcing requirements, including engaging consultants.

Day 2 will conclude with a process of consolidating the interventions designed and associated evaluation. Small groups will bring everything together into a concise pitch or presentation that outlines the problem, the chosen intervention (and why that intervention), their approach to evaluation and how success will be measured.

Participants will be provided with a copy of all of the resources from the two days (including slides, templates and handouts) to allow what is learnt and practiced to be replicated back in the working environment.

Is this for you?

This workshop has been intentionally designed for people whose roles involve a mixture of program design and evaluation. This includes program managers or project officers who are involved in writing funding bids or grant applications, are given responsibilities for delivering programs that have a broad scope and are required to establish or oversee evaluations.

The knowledge and skills are applicable across all content areas and sectors – public or private.

This workshop is limited to a maximum of 12 people, to ensure deep engagement and full support from your facilitators throughout.

Your facilitators: Christian Duell (White Light Education); Matt Healey (First Person Consulting)

Christian and Matt have developed this unique workshop offering drawing on their respective experience in program design and evaluation.

Christian Duell is an award-winning educator, facilitator and social entrepreneur. He is the founder of White Light Education and a previous Manager of the Asia Pacific Design Library. With a background in architecture, Christian has over 15 years of design education and facilitation experience across a wide range of contexts. Since 2016 Christian has facilitated over 100 workshops and projects with over 2,000 people across Australia for organisations such as headspace, UNICEF, Red Cross Australia, Australian universities and state and local government.

Christian is passionate about empowering individuals and organisations, through the tools of creativity, to have greater freedom and quality of choice. He specialises in offering facilitation and training in the areas of design thinking, human-centred design and co-design, with a focus of tackling complex social challenges.

Matt Healey is a social researcher and evaluation consultant with a reputation for unique and energetic workshops and activities. Over the last five years, he has led or significantly contributed to over 40 different projects. These include evaluation of Victoria’s first major gambling harm prevention program, a social research project into food waste in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, design of a biodiversity community education program, evaluation of a multi-country social innovator’s challenge for the Movember Foundation and development of an evaluation framework and plan for Victoria’s Sustainability Fund.

Matt is a regular contributor to the Australian Evaluation Society conference, delivering a range of papers and sessions on topics spanning learning from failure, the interface between co-design and evaluation and social network analysis.

Cost: $1,200 + GST + booking fee* per participant

If you are unable to book with a credit card, please fill out this form and we can arrange payment via an invoice. 

* We are excited to be able to donate your booking fee to support education scholarships for young indigenous people from rural and remote locations across Australia.