USAID/Professional Development and Training (PDT) Co-Creation Training & Advisory Services/Courses

CollaborateUp provides specialized training and technical consulting services to USAID Washington and Mission staff to assist in USAID/M/OAA/PDT’s efforts to incorporate new and innovative topics in the Acquisitions and Assistance process and help modernize USAID’s future business practices. CollaborateUp works with PDT and the requesting Mission or Operating Unit teams to tailor course modules, advisory services, and workshops in “How to Co-Design & Co-Create Shared Value.”

CollaborateUp offers four training modules, focused on Co-Creation Basics, Non-Competitive Co-Creation, Co-Creation pathways within USAID, and the details of using co-creation throughout the award process. Each course/workshop helps Missions and Operating Units execute on USAID’s private sector engagement policy.

Both courses and workshops provide foundational learning, skills, and hands-on advice and expertise in each area, with a focus on applying learned principles and practices to real-world problems. Through our rich network of consultants, we offer a broad array of vetted facilitators that work across regions and timezones, speak multiple languages, and have diverse subject matter expertise to help staff complex co-creation projects. In the first year of delivering the co-creation courses, CollaborateUp trained more than 650 students from Missions around the world.

During the workshops, participants learn:

1. The definition of co-creation and when and where to apply it (and when not to)
2. How to map out an appropriate co-creation timeline
3. USAID mechanisms and approaches for co-creation, competitive and non-competitive
4. USAID administrative questions on co-creation
5. The implementing partner’s perspective on co-creation; setting realistic expectations for success

Course outcomes include:

1. Knowledge of when to use co-creation and when not to
2. Experience developing co-creation agendas and timelines, using a set of tools and templates
3. Application of the principles of shared value and collective impact
4. Facilitation tips and tricks for co-creation workshops
5. Addressing power differentials and information asymmetries among co-creation participants
6. How to keep institutional memory and consistency throughout co-creation when players change