The fourth year of the co-creation ecosystem begins!
Four years ago, the co-creation ecosystem was launched. In 2021 we had the first meetings and sessions of the ecosystem; in 2022 two experiments were developed between different local actors and their knowledge was incorporated into the ecosystem; in 2023 we started working under an ecosystemic approach and five working groups were activated. This year our goal is to develop and strengthen the ecosystem.
14 organisations and 20 people are the co-creation ecosystem members, and we are working in 5 working groups:
- The orientation and promotion group
- The networks and connections group
- The experimentation group
- The observation and evaluation group
In addition, there is a connectors group, which ensures cohesion between the working groups and the knowledge that is generated. This year, the communication and external relations team will also be activated. On Thursday, 8 February, we held the first working session of the year, designed and facilitated by the connectors team with contributions from all the working groups. The aim was to reach a consensus on the objectives for 2024.
The ecosystem was strenghten after the 1st session of the year
During the day we had the opportunity to learn about what we have done in each group. Since the last meeting in 2023 and up to now, each group has collected the lessons learned in 2023 and has started the actions for 2024.
Then, in order to reach a consensus on the objectives of the ecosystem in 2024, we have carried out the fishbowl activity, which is divided into two moments: first there is a deliberation in small groups; then, a representative of each group shares what has been discussed in the centre, a discussion is created between the representatives of each group and the other members listen. If a listener wants to take part in the deliberation, he or she taps the representative of his or her team on the shoulder and takes his or her place in the centre. After this deliberation between groups’ representatives, it is possible to return to the small groups to go deeper into what has been said, and then the representatives of each group can share again in the centre what has been said in their working groups. The deliberation in these two spaces will be repeated as many times as needed until the members reach a consensus.
Following this activity, we reflected on the following questions: What are our co-creation ecosystem goals for 2024? What is the contribution that our working team will do to achieve these goals? What connections or relationships exist between the groups to achieve these goals?
After an in-depth deliberation, we have agreed the following goals for 2024. We will continue to specify them in the coming weeks and they will be detailed in a working plan:
- Open the ecosystem: communicate the work we are doing, identify opportunities for experimentation, identify local challenges and explore experiments in collaboration with other local stakholders…
- Strengthening the working groups and the mission/vision of the ecosystem.
- Explore ways for the ecosystem sustainability.
The second main activity of the day was creationing narratives to communicate the mission and vision of the ecosystem. In 2023 we defined the following vision and mission:
OUR VISION – A meeting place to generate co-creation shared knowledge with public institutions and local actors to respond to local challenges in collaboration.
OUR MISSION – Develop conditions for co-creation and new ways of doing and thinking to respond to local challenges in the Basque Country collaboratively.
The members of the ecosystem were divided into four groups, in which we have defined the narratives to present the co-creation ecosystem to different groups of people, specifically to the following: citizens, public institutions, associations and private organisations. First of all, each group had a moment to prepare its contents, aligning them with the type of audience to be addressed. Afterwards, each group made its own presentation and the other participants asked questions, acting in the role that had been previously assigned to them.
At the end of the day, we reviewed the milestones for the coming months. We will continue working in groups and the next session will be in Spring.