Playbook : Getting Started with Policy Co-design

Getting Started with Policy Co-design is the result of, and a reflection upon, a specific policy co-design process with the department for Culture in Jalisco, Mexico that took place across 2020-2021. The aim of the project was to define and shape cultural policy recommendations using a co-design approach. In this Playbook, we translate theory to practice using very specific examples derived from hands-on experience with employing this overall approach.

This is not a step-by-step manual. Rather, it should be seen as something that can be hacked and built upon with your own experience. Highlights and learnings from the project are sprinkled throughout in order to illustrate mindsets and tools in practice, and also showcase the ‘messiness’ and ‘fuzziness’ that is inherent to these types of processes. In this way, they should give readers confidence when things don’t always go to plan or when tools need to be adapted in light of constraints. 

No two experiences of co-design will look exactly the same, and nor should they. Policy co-design is far from a smooth and easy process, but the skills, mindsets, and knowledge that you foster along the way will make you an invaluable practitioner in all sorts of collaborative projects. We hope this playbook will give you the confidence to try things out in your own communities and contexts, designing with people and not just for them.

Download PDF of the 148 page bilingual (Spanish and English) Playbook