Bridge 4: Connecting Decision-Makers with Those Closest to the Issues

Partnerships
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The work I’ve led for Avon to tackle violence against women and girls is a good example of how including and listening to frontline and grassroots voices improves the effectiveness of programmes. Over 15 years ago we launched Avon’s ‘speak out against gender-based violence’ programme, to raise awareness and support frontline services. The programme now runs in over 30 countries, has raised and donated over $20m and helped over 15m women and girls. This wouldn’t have been possible without engagement with charities, communities and survivors on the ground. Violence against women and girls is a complex, ugly issue, rooted in inequality and which manifests in a myriad of evolving ways. To make sure Avon really understood the needs and represented the interests of its communities it was vital that we rooted our communications and campaigning in real-world insights. To that end we created a network of charity partners providing front-line services, and have been able to take their inputs, reflect their priorities and thoughts in our communications content, and shape meaningful campaigns together and direct Avon’s funding accordingly.

One example of this is The Reverse Make-Up Tutorial, an award-winning short film capturing the horror of coercive control, and sign-posting help and support. We were able to develop this film with active input from charities in multiple countries to ensure it had resonance whilst respectfully navigating the nuances of this challenging issue. This film’s effectiveness is thanks to the collaboration with those impacted by and dealing with this issue in multiple countries.

Another simple example is a series of films we created with survivors of domestic violence and local NGOs in several countries. This cocreation produced effective communications pieces, and amplified the voices of those impacted with and dealing with gender-based violence, thereby helping to educate about the importance of the work and the issues they face.

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-BCI co-creates solutions with our beneficiaries using a simple but effective approach that prioritizes agency and self-sufficiency for communities from day one of a project.
This approach is directly informed by the needs of communities, and its syllabuses have been designed in concert with women trained and Solar Engineers and some Master Trainers – Solar Engineers additionally qualified to teach others like themselves. The grassroots feedback on the need for interlocking solutions to energy, education and economic access, and the importance of self-ownership and self-determination to the success of the solution, has been integral to BCI’s ability to serve our beneficiaries effectively.

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Permanent feedback loops, local language and cultural sensitivity are important considerations to create local ownership and genuine input. A true iterative process reflects the feedback and adjusts the process.

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A2: At GAERS, co-creation starts with listening. Before designing interventions, we conduct stakeholder surveys and hold virtual workshops that bring together smallholder farmers, cooperatives, researchers, and government representatives. These conversations help us identify shared priorities and ensure any proposed solutions reflect real on-the-ground challenges.

For instance, when addressing rising input costs, we didn’t prescribe solutions upfront. Instead, we facilitated discussions between Nigerian farmers and Indian experts on sustainable practices. This exchange led to context-smart ideas rooted in shared experiences.

We also create rapid-response dialogues when crises emerge like the onion farming challenge or free-range cattle rearing issues. These sessions are grounded in the voices of those directly impacted, and they generate practical recommendations and build networks of trust.

Still, we’re mindful of limitations. As a young organization, translating recommendations into policy or funding action remains difficult. But we believe in meeting people where they are, co-owning both the problems and the solutions.

Co-creation isn’t a one-time event, it’s an ongoing relationship of learning, accountability, and shared ambition.

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How are you (or others you’ve seen) co-creating solutions with people directly impacted by the issues being addressed?

Co-creation’s not a one-off phase. It’s a consistent methodology. I build feedback into the process from the outset. That might mean a working group of staff who’ll live with the outcome. Or customers who’ve seen it all before and will tell you straight. I don’t wait for a polished final version to show them. I take them along the journey.

We meet regularly. Talk through what’s landing, what’s not, and what’s missing. They shape the thinking. Not just the tweaks, the big ideas too. It builds trust, sharpens the outcome and saves time down the line. More than that, it means the work sticks. Because people feel part of it. And let’s be honest people don’t support what they’re told to accept. They support what they’ve helped to shape

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Response to Q2: How are you co-creating solutions..

Drawing on over years of experience working on this program, it is evident that the voices of those directly impacted by its initiatives have been integral to its ongoing refinement and expansion. Participant feedback has consistently informed the evolution of the program, ensuring it remains responsive to the needs of its beneficiaries.

Originally launched to support women globally—particularly within the apparel supply chain—the program was founded on the principle that all women should have the opportunity to realize their full potential. Utilizing a modular learning approach, the curriculum was designed to empower women to amplify their voices, broaden their aspirations, and enhance both their professional and personal skills. While the curriculum is tailored to local contexts, core themes such as gender roles, safety, and security are foundational across all modules.

The program has been continually refined and scaled through strategic partnerships, ongoing evaluation, participant feedback, and independent research. This iterative process ensures that the experiences and insights of women and girls participating in the program directly shape its ongoing development and expansion.

The curriculum encompasses a broad range of topics, including communication, problem-solving and decision-making, time and stress management, financial literacy, legal literacy and social entitlements, as well as water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). These areas were identified as essential for both workplace productivity and the overall well-being of women. For example, female garment workers have reported that the training enhanced their ability to communicate effectively, resolve workplace challenges through dialogue with supervisors, and improve communication within their families.

The documented impact of the program underscores the effectiveness of this feedback-driven approach. Evaluations have demonstrated significant improvements, including notable increases in self-efficacy and workplace influence among participants. Women who completed the training have reported using their skills to advocate for a greater role in household decision-making, contribute to community infrastructure projects, and secure loans to expand their businesses. Additionally, participants have shown marked improvements in self-esteem, communication, and self-advocacy, with these changes described as transformational and having a positive ripple effect on the well-being of their families and communities. Studies have also identified substantial and sustained productivity gains resulting from the soft skills developed through the program.

Moreover, while the process may not always be explicitly termed “co-creation” with beneficiaries, the expansion of the program into community settings, the introduction of specialized modules for adolescent girls, and the development of programming for men and boys to foster greater understanding of women’s experiences all reflect a commitment to addressing the broader needs and contexts of the communities served. The creation of the WASH curriculum further demonstrates a strategy that addresses water-related challenges through a human rights perspective, emphasizing the human impact of these issues.

In summary, participant feedback has been a key driver in the evolution, refinement, and scaling of the program, significantly contributing to its effectiveness and positive impact on the lives of women and girls.

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For many years, child labour has been a pervasive issue in cocoa and other supply chains. Since the early 2010s, Nestlé, as a major purchaser of cocoa farmed in Côte d’Ivoire - consistently one of the highest risk countries in terms of child labour - has implemented in association with the International Cocoa Initiative the Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System. Critically, this approach has evolved to engage increasingly directly with affected cocoa growing communities in order to understand and address root causes. The approach and its effectiveness at community level is regularly assessed by an independent third party, the Fair Labor Association.

One of the key issues identified through this engagement is access to documentation. In common with most countries, Côte d’Ivoire requires a birth certificate in order to register for state education. With a high proportion of migrant labour, this often presents a major challenge. A 2019 FLA Social Impact Assessment of the programme revealed it had in recent years facilitated more than eleven thousand court judgements to help secure documentation and had obtained 150 birth certificates across more than 5,000 cocoa producers.

This complemented significant investments in educational infrastructure during the same period. Notwithstanding, low income remains the single biggest impediment for cocoa farmers, a 2019 state sponsored initiative - the Living Income Differential - to tax cocoa exports to fund farmer income supplementation having even by government admission having achieved mixed results. Nestlé has since announced its own Income Accelerator Programme, which in 2022 offered farmers committing to keeping children in school and implemention of other regenerative practices bonus payments of up to CHF 500 per year for the first two years and CHF 250 per year thereafter.

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Q2 reply:
Co-Design (aka participatory design) is in vogue and has been for over a decade—across all three sectors. From town halls and “listening tours” to a hackathons, there is no shortage of opportunity for anyone and everyone to “have their say” on issues and development of strategies, policies, and programs to tackle the biggest and most entrenched and complex problems out there. The activity spans both insight and intelligence gathering to inform as well as co-creation (to varying degrees of participation of those directly impacted). Here in Ireland where I live, there are countless examples. A few of the more prominent approaches in play at the moment include:
• Public consultation process
o Consultations

• Public Participation Networks
o Public Participation Networks

• SDG Stakeholder Forums (within the national SDG governance framework)
o Sustainable Development Goals
As with any tool or process, their effectiveness depends on both their fitness for purpose and how they are used. As Maslow once said, “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” Participatory Design has been heartily embraced by strategists and development experts in all three sectors, but the accessibility of methods and tools has also ushered in overuse and misuse as well.

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Q2. A great example I’ve seen of co-creating solutions is the Waitrose Foundation model, where funds are invested back into fresh produce communities, and importantly, it is the workers themselves who decide how that money is spent through democratically elected committees. This ensures that investments genuinely reflect community priorities, whether that is childcare, transport, or training. The process is supported by an implementing NGO, but the direction comes from those directly impacted. More broadly, many organisations are now embedding lived experience into governance structures, such as having youth on boards or creating youth shadow boards. These spaces give people directly affected by the issues a meaningful role in shaping solutions and influencing decision-making at the highest level. It is a shift from consultation to shared power, which is exciting to see.**

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At Build Change, homeowners and other local stakeholders (craftsmen, construction workers, materials producers) are involved from the start of a project all the way through to project completion and beyond. Most projects start with awareness raising, engaging with homeowners to share knowledge and learning about housing resilience and to learn more about the local context, particularly in terms of climate and disaster risk and vulnerability. This is followed by capacity building workshops in which technical assistance is provided to homeowners and local laborers to equip them with knowledge and understanding as to how to improve the resilience of their homes, or the homes they work on in their communities. This can include everything from gaining a better understanding of financing options to construction methods to safer building materials and more.

All of this equips homeowners to make decisions about materials, architecture, locations of windows, doors, toilets. It also ensures they have the skills and capacity to handle the cash and hire local labor, overseeing the project with the support of technical assistance from Build Change or others.

As described in our answer to the previous question, we consult local communities, including homeowners and local craftsmen and laborers, about designs, materials, and construction techniques in order to ensure our solutions are locally relevant and therefore more appropriate, sustainable, and scalable. This ensures that resilient housing programs can live beyond one set project and rather turn into sustainable and scalable solutions for entire communities, cities and countries—supporting systemic change in the housing value change that includes policy, financing and technology.

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As part of the Beyond Possibilities initiative, funded by the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan, we delivered a Financial Literacy component under the Youth Employability Skills program for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

One of our biggest challenges was ensuring effective knowledge transfer, as PWDs in Pakistan often receive an oversimplified curriculum compared to their peers, leaving gaps in linguistic skills and vocabulary. To bridge this gap, we partnered with a local PWDs rights organization, which provided trained interpreters to facilitate clear communication and engagement.

This collaboration not only enhanced the learning experience but also empowered participants with practical financial skills, opening doors to better livelihood opportunities.

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Engagement & Co-Creation: What’s Worked for Me

Creating meaningful solutions with communities and stakeholders isn’t about ticking boxes — it’s about building relationships, trust and momentum. Here’s what’s really work for me:

1. Talking Is Always Good

Open, honest conversations are the foundation of any successful engagement. Whether formal or informal, dialogue builds understanding and connection.

2. Trust Takes Time

Authentic engagement doesn’t happen overnight. It requires consistent effort, transparency and follow-through. Trust is earned, not assumed.

3. Online Works for Busy Lives

Digital tools make it easier for people to engage on their terms and in their time. Online platforms can increase reach, flexibility and inclusivity — especially for remote and time-poor stakeholders and communities, and for those who’d just rather be at home in the evening.

4. Build a Coalition of the Willing

Start with those who are ready to act. Momentum grows when people feel empowered and supported. Don’t wait for everyone — lead with the willing.

5. Focus on “How Can We?” Not “Who Pays?”

Shift the mindset from scarcity to possibility. Great ideas often start by working with what’s already available — people, spaces, skills and energy.

6. Engage Everyone — Not Just Supporters

Real solutions come from hearing all voices, including critics and sceptics. Engaging diverse perspectives leads to more resilient, inclusive outcomes.

7. Multiple Solutions Are Okay

Consensus isn’t always necessary — or helpful. Let different groups try different approaches. Innovation thrives when we allow space for variety and experimentation.

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Use of participatory models in programmes design and implementation. In WOW programme, we co-created with a group of farmers’ referred to as Programme Reference Group, community leaders, content experts, radio station and the County government, Radio programme content that was relevant, informative and disseminating timely information in the language that the locals understood.

Community-led monitoring and evaluation platforms. We are using the community health volunteers (CHVs) to collect data, report feedback, and track impact with aim of improving on service delivery, transparency and impact. In partnership with Tiko Africa, we use community mobilizers and mobile platform application to generate demand for services in HIV and FP.

Involvement of community gate-keepers to tackle sensitive issues in early marriages, FGM and family planning.

Human-Centered Approach is an effective way of tailoring solutions that align to people’s actual needs. By engaging communities through interviews, workshops, and feedback loops captures their core concerns. Empathizing, defining problems, ideating, prototyping, and testing solutions are design thinking approaches that have worked.

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In our work designing a blueprint for Migration Support Centers for garment sector workers, we prioritized co-creation by deeply engaging those most affected, migrant workers themselves, alongside HR, organizational development, and NGO staff. Through participatory workshops and journey-mapping exercises, we uncovered the distinct needs and challenges faced at every stage of migration: from community resistance and training anxieties at source, to documentation, mental health, and food-related struggles at the destination. These insights, especially the gendered experiences of unmarried women, married couples, and solo spouses, shaped the MSC’s service blueprint, ensuring it addressed real-world barriers with empathy and practicality. The result is a blueprint for MSCs grounded in lived experience and built to meaningfully support worker wellbeing across the migration journey.

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Use of periodic and continuous listening tools has helped us co-create effective solutions. Some investors and intermediaries use Human-Centered Design (HCD) workshops where community members co-create solutions with entrepreneurs. * Organizations like Upaya Social Ventures prioritize investing in local entrepreneurs and incubating locally led enterprises.

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Over the last three years, we collaborated extensively with local communities in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia to ensure that their perspectives shaped not only the project’s priorities but also the solutions we built together.

One way we did this was to establish new or strengthen existing civil society networks that already had strong roots in these communities. For example, in Kenya, the Kwale Mining Alliance (a network of local human rights defenders in the coastal county of Kwale) and the Marsabit Renewable Energy Reference Group (network of human rights defenders in the wind energy-rich county of Marsabit) served as key links between affected communities, businesses and government.

Through trainings on advocacy, conflict-sensitivity etc, these networks were able to advocate for community rights and directly interact with companies to express concerns and negotiate improvements. It wasn’t simply about telling them what to do; it was about empowering them with the confidence, knowledge, and resources they needed to speak up and hold duty bearers to account.

Additionally, in Uganda, project affected communities advocated to oil companies to strengthen their grievance systems. Resultantly, TotalEnergies and China National Offshore Oil Corporation established joint compliance monitoring forums in the Albertine region to address community complaints. These forums were co-created with community representatives to guarantee that their concerns were heard, handled and tracked over time.

We also made sure that our work was grounded in extensive conflict and gender analyses that mirrored the daily realities of those affected, particularly indigenous communities, pastoralists and women, who often experience the harshest impacts.

Our collaborative approach also influenced national policies. For example, feedback and input received from communities influenced the revision of Kenya’s mining legislation and policies. Alert and partners submitted memoranda and organised advocacy meetings with the mining ministry. In Ethiopia, we contributed to the development of the country’s first National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.

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A2. How are you (or others you’ve seen) co-creating solutions with people directly impacted by the issues being addressed?
We work directly with small and growing Agribusinesses that in turn work with farmers. And in working with the Agribusinesses we ensure that the farmers are co-creating solutions especially around the impacts of climate change on production of coffee and cocoa.

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We support global NGOs to build campaigns that centre the voices and experiences of poeple directly affected by issues like climate change and sexual violence. The most effective ways we have used and seen used are:

focused listening - setting a simple and very broad framework for the issue and providing routes for those directly affected to share their experiences, through surveys, focus groups, remote discussion sessions and face to face and one to one interviews
what if sessions - rather than providing a campaign concept and messages, we provide a series of what if scenarios and encourage communities to consider which they feel capture the issue for them and provide a way of talking about what can be done to make progress on it
Bridges and walls - we explore with communities through the channels outlined above to consider the bridges they think we can build to decision makers from their experience, to engage and influence them, and the walls and barriers that we need to overcome to make those bridges

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Q2: If any new interventions build on existing programmes, feedback mechanisms can be helpful in getting inputs into what works and what doesn’t, and what people really want.
Gender-sensitive focus group discussions can also be very useful. However, it is crucial to make sure that everyone has the possibility to speak up. Therefore, who is invited to which FGD will need to be carefully planned.
Finding out who are informal community leaders and engaging through them with the wider communities is another way. However, also here sensitivity needs to be applied to make sure that also those persons/groups who are not heard by community leaders get a voice.
Finally, it’s important to respond to communities who are engaged in any co-creation process. If what they have put forward is not taken into consideration, this should be explained through dialogue. Generally, a validation process for making final decision on design is necessary.

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At UKBBF we are a CIC so work directly with business members in everything we do trying to address the lack of consideration of biodiversity in business operations/strategy.