Co-design (which is defined as collective creativity of designers and people who are not trained in design through the whole design process) is widely used in the commercial sector to accelerate user acceptance and reduce product failure. Co-design has become more widespread in the public sector, especially in urban design, since it is more effective at engaging citizens than conventional public consulting practices. At present, we believe that co-design is not widely used by community-based organisations (CBOs). This might be because the value and practicalities for CBOs are not clear. A recent study suggests that small not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) including CBOs need to make a good use of collaborations, since they rely on small numbers of committed staff and/or volunteers and so are vulnerable if they leave. The study also reports that most NPOs are interested in collaboration for idea/information sharing, which fits with co-design. Although leaders and members of CBOs recognise problems and needs of the poor/disadvantaged, they do not necessarily have first-hand experience. Thus, good use of co-design between CBOs and their beneficiaries could lead to better services and more effective means of delivery - reducing unnecessary costs and maximising value which is crucial where public budgets are limited. Successful community co-design projects not only unlock the creative potential of communities, but also help them become more self-reliant and resilient. However, the extent of co-design practice in CBOs is unknown. Moreover, not all CBOs' experience of co-design are successful. CBOs need to understand the costs, risks, benefits, and practicalities of co-design approaches. These will be specific to their context and their mission. To enhance community co-design led by CBOs, we need to evaluate CBOs' current experience and disseminate good practice that is appropriate to their scale and their missions. As a result, the aim of this research project is to "understand CBOs' state of knowledge of co-design and develop guidance to help CBOs effectively co-design with their beneficiaries to deliver better services at lower cost." We will achieve this aim by 1) reviewing existing understanding and experience of co-design in CBOs; 2) examining costs, risks and benefits of co-design in CBOs; 3) identifying good practices within the third sector and from other sectors, that can be applied to CBOs; 4) collating lessons learned and develop good practice guidance for CBOs; and 5) disseminating the findings and the guidance to CBOs' key stakeholders, policy makers and the wider design research community. We will work with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and other small-and-medium-sized NPOs throughout the project to ensure proper engagement with CBOs and the practicality of the outcomes.

Co-design, the direct engagement of all stakeholders in design activities for the purpose of addressing complex problems, is seen as a way for supporting and enhancing collective creativity and leading to better, more sustainable solutions. Co-design is also becoming an important theme in community research and within community-academic partnerships. The summit organized by the AHRC-led Connected Communities program in July 2012 highlighted the need to tackle the theme of 'community engagement in and with research'. Within this context, the co-design and co-delivery of research and practice in community-academic partnerships is increasingly seen as a valuable paradigm for tackling complex social problems based on the principles of shared vision, equitable involvement, ownership and trust, capacity building and relevance. Despite their differences, those involved (community groups, community organisations and academics) recognize that through their partnership and interconnections they can create new opportunities for innovation and build their ability to identify and solve complex issues that would not have been possible to do alone. However this is not a trivial task. It requires the development of a shared vision, equitable involvement and trust, and overcoming limitations in resources, but also differences in culture, terminology/language used and methodology/practice. This challenge sets the scene for this project. The project proposes and reflects on a process for co-designing research in community-academic partnerships based on set of co-creative techniques that we call 'Design by Consensus'. The process is based on 'role playing' and collaborative visioning techniques. The aim of the proposed process is to unleash and build upon the intrinsic capacities of communities, community organizations and academic institutions in order to form a common research vision, helping scale up their practice and extend their reach. This process will result to the following outputs: - the development of a visionary code of practice/framework for community-academic co-creation and co-delivery of research using a set of shared principles; - the specification of research agendas that can help community-academic partnerships build their capacity using their existing assets and extend their reach and practice; - the production of a 'sketchbook/notebook of reflections' that aims to visually record reflections but also emotions for the proposed process, community-academic partnership and their outputs. The above outputs set the foundation for the co-delivery of research in phase 2.