Thais Costa
PASSA Youth
The Participatory Approach for Safe Shelter Awareness (PASSA) Youth is a dynamic, participatory methodology designed to empower young people around the world to actively engage in their communities. By fostering awareness and advocating for the development of safe shelters and resilient settlements, particularly in disaster-prone regions, PASSA Youth seeks to equip the next generation with the tools and knowledge to contribute to disaster preparedness and sustainable urban planning.
PASSA Youth reached out to Butterfly Works to create an online community platform designed to promote the exchange of knowledge, strengthen connections among youth, and equip the next generation with the skills necessary to support disaster resilience.
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My Role:
As project lead, I oversaw the development of an online platform to connect PASSA Youth facilitators worldwide. Collaborating remotely with a diverse team of youth representatives, content experts, creatives, and developers, I guided the content creation and user experience. I primarily focused on directing the software developers in building the platform's functionalities and front-end design.
Company/ partners
Output
A community of practice platform for PASSA Youth's facilitators
Location
Global
Date
2019 - 2020
The design challenge
The project began with a participatory design research process called the Exploration Lab, where youth facilitators, youth group representatives, and program managers of PASSA Youth were invited to reflect on their experiences. Over the course of one week, participants conducted research activities with remote support from our team at Butterfly Works. The Exploration Lab is a participatory research method that empowers participants to take an active role, uncovering fresh perspectives and new approaches to developing innovative solutions.
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The design research led to the following challenge: "How might we bring together all the stakeholders of the PASSA Youth methodology from around the world to facilitate learning, sharing, and inspiration?" To address this, we adopted a user-centred design approach, engaging youth facilitators, project managers, and youth participants to co-create a digital platform that would connect the PASSA Youth community globally.
Following this, a co-creation workshop was held in the Philippines, where PASSA Youth participants analysed the design research findings, shared current practices, and discussed the experiences and needs of all involved. Together, we brainstormed ideas and solutions to incorporate into the online platform.
The outcome
The workshop generated several concepts, which were later evaluated for relevance and feasibility. Once a final concept was selected, I led the platform development in collaboration with our partner, Habi Education Lab, based in the Philippines. Working remotely, I closely partnered with Habi Education Lab, providing art direction and strategic guidance throughout the development process. Together, we collaborated with a team of creatives, software developers, and web designers from the Philippines.
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After multiple rounds of user testing and iterations, we finalized the platform and launched it at a global event in July 2020. For the launch, we produced a video to promote the platform and showcase the co-creative design approach. The result is a user-driven platform that addresses specific needs and strengthens the community of practice.
This page showcases all the rollouts of the PASSA Youth program across the world. Users can filter through the library of rollouts from each different country.
The PASSA platform is all about connecting people. Users can connect with everyone by going through the People page! They can filter based on the country where a person is based or their role!
Each member of the platform has their own profile. Users can see which rollouts they’re a part of, which stories they wrote, and which badges they have earned.