Policies, strategies, and programs are most effective when they are co-designed with the people who use them. Across Canada, we’ve supported governments, agencies, and non-profits in designing, implementing, and evaluating services while putting lived experience at the center. Our expertise in human-centred design, inclusive engagement, and applied research supports helps get ideas off the page and into practice.
Why Co-Design Matters
The community, social, and disability services sectors are under increasing pressure—long wait lists, limited funding, workforce shortages, and increasingly complex needs are creating major challenges. These issues highlight the need for more effective ways of working to ensure people and communities receive the supports they need.
At the same time, governments across Canada are calling for more inclusive, person-directed models of support that ensure people have more choice and control over the supports they receive. For example, the Accessible Canada Act sets a national goal of becoming a barrier-free country by 2040, and emphasizes involving people with lived experience at every step of decision-making. Provinces including Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island are demonstrating a growing commitment to inclusive systems that help people live independently, participate fully in their communities, and direct their own supports.
Co-designing services alongside people with lived experience—or “first voice leadership”—is one of the most effective tools available to address many of the pressures facing the community and social services sector. When people who use services are involved as equal partners in designing them, solutions are more practical, efficient, and better aligned with real needs.
Co-design shifts power from designing for people to designing with people. It builds trust. And it produces strategies that are more relevant, resilient, and actionable.
A Toolkit for Co-Design
Inclusive co-design isn’t a single event. It’s a way of working.
In practice, that means:
- creating intentional space for people with lived experience to shape priorities.
- offering multiple, accessible ways to participate.
- building feedback loops into every stage to share what was heard and what is being actioned.
We have developed a practical toolkit to help practitioners embed first voice leadership at every stage of policy, program, and service design.
This tool guides users through key steps and methods to support inclusive and effective co-design. It is grounded in principles of equity, reconciliation, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility (ERIDA) and should be tailored to any group or context to ensure that every co-design process is truly person-centred and collaborative.
Élisabeth Houle (she/her) is a Principal at Davis Pier with extensive experience leading complex public-sector initiatives to enhance community involvement and shape strategic outcomes in healthcare and social services. Skilled in human-centred design, facilitation, and change management, she designs engagement processes that elevate diverse voices and lived experiences.
Johana Zuluaga (she/her) is a Community Engagement Lead at Davis Pier with over 15 years of experience working on complex, transformational projects across the community and social services sectors. A Prosci-certified Change Management Practitioner trained in participatory leadership, Johana’s approach is adaptive, solution-focused, and grounded in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
