Gender equality in collaborative governance: How?
Ione Ardaiz, Naia Begiristain, Miren Estensoro, Naiara Goia, Claudia Icaran, Miren Larrea and Ane Miren Valenciano.
Governance and Gender: How to approach it?
In a previous publication, a group of professionals from Arantzazulab and Orkestra shared our intention to launch a dialogue space on “Governance and Gender” in the coming months. Within the framework of public policies, the goal is to highlight the importance of gender in collaborative governance processes and deepen reflection and learning in this field.
But how do we intend to do this? We have often mentioned that how we implement our initiatives is just as important as what we do. Therefore, complementing our previous blogpost, this article focuses on how to give importance to this issue and shares the methodological frameworks behind the process we are developing.
At Arantzazulab and Orkestra, we work with different methodologies: Arantzazulab’s approach is called Design for DemocracyInnovation, while Orkestra follows the Action Research for Territorial Development methodology. Despite their differences, these methodologies share numerous connections, which form the foundation of our collaboration.
Design for Democracy Innovation
At Arantzazulab, we have developed our own working methodology, called Design for Democracyc Innovation, to advance practice and research on innovation in democracy. This methodology seeks to explain the philosophical principles and foundations of our work—how and why we operate in this way. Through this approach, we aim to contribute to democracy innovation, ensuring consistency in our work.
Unlike theoretical frameworks (although we are undoubtedly influenced by theory and incorporate various approaches into our work), Design for Democracy innovation is based on the accumulated learning and experience developed through Arantzazulab’s journey and the creation of this methodology. The result is a combination of two traditionally separate areas of knowledge: design and democracy innovation.
Design has been at the core of this methodology, serving as both inspiration and a transformational force in our work on democracy innovation. Design is widely applied in various fields, such as social innovation, public innovation, systemic transformation, and policymaking processes. Many contemporary innovation frameworks for addressing complex challenges are rooted in design principles, either fully or partially.
However, applying design to democracy innovation is less common. We align with researcher Saward (2021) in believing that design plays a crucial role in addressing democracy’s shortcomings while unlocking its potential for innovation. It allows us to rethink systems, symbols, and values—elements created by people, and thus (re)designable. Our methodology is structured around five core phases: Ongoing and active dialogue to build relationship networks; Envisioning collaboration and making it viable; Developing capabilities and conditions for experimentation; Co-creation: reflection, experimentation, developmental evaluation and iteration; Systematisation and dissemination.
While all these phases are essential, our focus in the “Governance and Gender” reflection space will be on the co-creation process. Since we want this to be a co-creative endeavor, we will invite diverse voices to participate in the reflection, building a shared understanding—both intellectually and emotionally—on the intersection of governance and gender. We aim to make this process innovative, adapting our actions and generating new knowledge as we learn.
Our working principles will inevitably shape this process. One key aspect we want to emphasize is that, beyond the philosophical principles of our work, gender reflection will be at the heart of our inquiry, linking the subject and object of the process. Based on Arantzazulab’s guiding principles (detailed in our methodology document), we aim to explore the following areas from a gender perspective:
- Rethinking power (citizen empowerment and transforming institutional-society relations).
- Encouraging collaboration (deepening collaborative governance by promoting participatory spaces and working conditions).
- Generating new knowledge by integrating various disciplines and recognizing diverse forms of knowledge (theoretical, experiential, and lived experiences).
- Facilitating dialogue (respecting all voices and perspectives).
- Adopting a systemic approach (connecting ideas to understand complex challenges and ways of working).
These principles align with key aspects of feminist methodologies (Luxan & Azpiazu, 2017), including: the relationship between subject and object; the interdependence between theory and practice; recognizing and transforming power dynamics in research processes; and prioritizing collective knowledge generation.
Action-research for Territorial Development
Orkestra contributes to this gender perspective in governance processes through its Action Research for Territorial Development methodology. Developed over the past 17 years, this approach has strong connections with Arantzazulab’s Design for Democracy innovation. Numerous publications on this methodology are available on Orkestra’s website.
Like Design for Democracy innovation, Action Research for Territorial Development incorporates complexity and a systemic perspective. In the pursuit of gender equality, it focuses on integrating gender perspectives into collaborative governance. Rather than simply applying pre-existing knowledge, this methodology prioritizes action-based knowledge generation. Two key concepts in applying action research to collaborative governance are praxis and co-creation—both of which are also central to our methodological approach to gender.
Praxis
Praxis refers to the relationship between theory and practice. The value of theories and concepts is not determined by theoretical debate but by their practical applicability. When we face challenges in our processes, we engage with different frameworks and concepts but only incorporate those that genuinely help us address the issue at hand.
Praxis is often described as a continuous cycle of reflection and action. However, our experience suggests that the starting point is not reflection but action—addressing a problem directly. The cycle is better understood as action-reflection-action. Instead of imagining an ideal scenario and attempting to implement it, we begin with real-world actions, reflect on what needs improvement, and adjust accordingly.
Regarding gender, we do not seek to create a theoretical model of how things should be and then implement it. Instead, we start with real situations and experiences, reflect on them, and drive transformation from there. This does not mean we ignore theoretical frameworks; rather, we use feminist action research—particularly the work of Patricia Gayá and Eleonora Spinelli—as a foundation for integrating feminist perspectives into action research for territorial development.
Co-Creation
Like Design for Democracy innovation, Action Research for Territorial Development is based on co-creation. Its distinct feature is that transformation emerges from the collaborative generation of new knowledge between territorial actors and action researchers.
This requires policymakers and action researchers to identify shared problems and develop trust-based relationships with a common vision. Shared vision does not mean complete agreement on all issues, but rather a clear understanding of where consensus exists and where differences remain—allowing for progress.
Gender-related work will also follow a co-creation process. We aim to engage both women and men involved in collaborative governance within public policy frameworks to co-create knowledge that drives transformative change.
Next Step: To launch the Collaborative Governance and Gender Reflection Forum
In our first blogpost, we outlined the purpose, framework, and goals of this initiative. In this article, we have shared how we plan to develop it. The two methodologies discussed provide enough common ground for mutual inspiration and joint work. Over the coming months, we will engage with people in our territory to learn from their experiences. Based on these insights, we aim to identify gender gaps in collaborative governance processes, foster fairer gender dynamics, and ultimately promote equality.