Navigating Uncertainty: Developing the Facilitator’s Role Through Participatory Service Design Workshops

This chapter discusses the facilitator’s role and methods that would embrace decolonial practices. It is based on service design cases with Indigenous San youth communities in South Africa and Namibia. Further, it discusses the uncertainty of the facilitator’s role in dealing with practical challenges in sensitive contexts and in trying to develop decolonising practices that service design facilitators and workshop participants could utilise when working with underserved communities. The chapter is related to larger participatory service design research efforts conducted during the ‘Participatory Development with Youth’ (PARTY) project (2015-2019), funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 MSCA RISE programme. Service design processes with the communities sought to build on the creative potential and skills of youth from underserved communities. Participatory service design workshops with South African youth communities in Grabouw, Indigenous San youth in Platfontein and youth communities in Windhoek, Namibia, helped in the development of facilitatory practices. The chapter illustrates how arts-based methods (ABMs) can be used while working with youth in participatory service design workshops and, in turn, help facilitators better understand their own role in sensitising processes when dealing with marginalised communities. The desired impact of the arts-based methods for the youth lies in local empowerment, stakeholder dialogue and increased local democracy.