Align Workshop: Leveraging design to align ecosystem actors

We identified the national blood shortage crisis in Botswana as a systemic and inter-organisational challenge. As a result, Spectrum Analytics, Imagination Lancaster, Stanbic bank and other organisations have come together to seek solutions to this problem. This forms an update on co-design activities we conducted during the first workshop entitled; Align workshop. We used co-design to help participants generate goals, roles and design alignment between roles and key ecosystem actors. This was important to develop design attitudes when working on an ecosystem project. The Align workshop helped us realise the efficacy of using design methods in prompting collaborative creativity in ecosystem projects.

The next step would be to call upon diverse actors interested in this project. We will invite the public based on the ecosystem goals generated in the Align workshop. We expect the second workshop entitled; Co-create,  to engage many participants with various capabilities needed to create solutions relevant to the blood donation crisis. The Co-create workshop will be based on the six main goals identified in the Align workshop, i.e. 1.) Raise awareness on blood shortage, 2.) Increase blood supply, 3.) Leverage digital tools, 4.) Engage relevant stakeholders, 5.) Create positive public perception, 6.) Leverage research. The Co-create workshop will lead to the third workshop entitled; Sustain, which aims to reflect on the project output and sustainable design ideas beyond the project’s lifespan.