Thais Costa
Partos Now-Us Festival
The Now-Us! Annual Inclusion Awards recognize and celebrate transformative initiatives from Africa and Asia. In 2019, 10 organisations from across the globe were selected as finalists for their outstanding contributions to the lives of marginalized groups, including people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ individuals, women facing abuse, age-discriminated communities, and indigenous and ethnic minorities. In partnership with Partos and the Spindle, Butterfly Works was invited to collaborate with the finalists to refine their pitches for the Awards event, employing design thinking tools and a participatory approach to enhance their presentations.
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My Role
I had the privilege of co-designing the design thinking tools and co-facilitating workshop sessions that fostered dynamic knowledge exchange among organizations. Through participatory activities, including interactive "speed dating" sessions and business case framing exercises, we created an engaging space for collaboration and learning. As a facilitator, I also provided guidance and support to help organizations refine and strengthen their business pitches in preparation for the awards ceremony.
Company/ partners
Output
A toolkit of tailored design tools to empower finalists to continue producing innovative work.
Location
Global & Netherlands
Date
2018 - 2019
The design challenge
Using design thinking tools and a co-creative approach, we worked closely with the finalists of the Now-Us! Inclusion Awards to refine their work, ensuring a user-centered focus while strengthening their pitches for the awards event. Through interactive sessions, we explored and tested storytelling techniques, equipping participants with practical skills to enhance their presentations. To extend our support beyond the event, we provided a customized design thinking toolkit in both English and French.
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We helped guide finalists through an engaging process aimed at answering the question: How might we support and empower the Now-Us! Inclusion Awards finalists with design thinking tools and methods to elevate their pitches?
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Our sessions fostered meaningful connections, encouraged knowledge-sharing, uncovered synergies, and sparked opportunities for future collaboration.
The outcome
Our workshop journey culminated in a dynamic presentation at the Partos Innovation Festival. During the festival, we hosted an interactive session where the finalists of the Now-Us! Awards showcased their projects through engaging activities and discussion groups. This provided the festival audience with an opportunity to connect with the finalists’ impactful work ahead of the awards ceremony, where the top three winners would be announced.
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By the end of this process, the finalists had gained hands-on experience in applying design thinking tools and a co-creative mindset to drive their ideas forward. Together, we explored innovative and inclusive ways to strengthen their initiatives. Butterfly Works later followed up with the first cohort of finalists to understand how they had integrated these tools into their ongoing work. For me personally, this was an incredibly meaningful experience—one that offered the opportunity to learn from and be inspired by the extraordinary efforts of each organization.
Our workshop included people with disabilities, such as visual and hearing impairment and down syndrome. We used musical instruments and dance as a form to connect participants during group energisers.
A first activity of the workshop was a self reflection exercise about oneself and a personal way to introduce yourself to others.
We used modelling clay as reflection moments in between activities during the workshop sessions. Tactile materials have proven to work very well for engaging with people with disabilities.