Personal project · 2026
Participatory
Methods
a free library of participatory methods + an online specialisation for the people who design with them
About the project
Participatory methods are used across education, community organising, health, urban planning, corporate facilitation — any context where people need to make decisions together. Yet most facilitators end up relying on the same handful of techniques, not because nothing else exists, but because there's almost no structured place to learn them. Formal training is scarce, scattered, and rarely free.
Component 01
The activity library
A free, open library of participatory methods — hundreds of documented activities used every month by thousands of facilitators, educators, and community organisers around the world.
The specialisation · Component 02
Specialisation in Design of Participatory Experiences.
The free specialisation grew from the same impulse. Since opening pre-registration, it has received hundreds of expressions of interest — a sign that the demand for this kind of grounded, accessible training already exists. The goal is simple: make participatory methods available to anyone who wants to use them, without paywalls or prerequisites, and contribute to building spaces where decisions are made more collaboratively, consciously, and collectively.
The curriculum is currently being co-designed with a diverse group of specialists — practitioners and researchers with deep experience in participatory methods, drawn from different disciplines, geographies, and traditions. The diversity of perspectives is deliberate: a specialisation about participation should itself be built participatorily. The pilot begins in March 2027.
Design principles · Specialisation DPEX
Learning experience design
A sneak peek at the lessons.
Lesson 01
Conceptual dimensions of participation
Participation doesn't have one definition. Political theory, critical pedagogy, community psychology, and situated learning have all conceptualized it differently — and those differences aren't just semantic. Eight ideas from the field to start with.
Lesson 02
Historical evolution of participation
From ancient Greek assemblies to 21st-century participatory budgets — each era built a different understanding of what participation means and who it's actually for. The timeline shows what mechanisms were used, who held protagonism, and what real power they had over the decisions that mattered.
Lesson 03
Challenges and tensions in participatory practice
Having a voice is not the same as having influence. These scenarios surface the gaps — between participation as practice and participation as promise — before the theory names them.
Key decisions
The choices that defined the project.
Free, not freemium
If the problem is that facilitation training is scattered and rarely free, charging for access would replicate the problem. Making it free was not a business decision — it was the premise.
Library first, courses second
The activity library launched first to validate demand and understand what practitioners actually needed. The specialisation was designed only after seeing what the community used most and what was missing from their practice.
Theory before methods
The specialisation starts with theory (why participation works, power dynamics, motivation) before teaching specific methods. Without the foundation, methods become recipes — and recipes break the moment context changes.
The impact
Heard back from the community.
Spotlight · Cool Stuff You Don't Wanna Miss Out
"A treasure trove of facilitation techniques to supercharge workshops and learning experiences. Perfect for L&D pros looking for fresh, engaging ways to bring people together."
— L&D Shakers · The Learning Brief ↗"A collaborator and friend recently shared the library of participatory methods with me and I just wanted to reach out and express my personal gratitude to the stewards of this beautiful resource. It was clearly a labour of love and such a beautiful offering to the community."
— Kāvya
"I would love to thank you personally for curating such a wonderful collective of participatory methods! This resource is a gift to so many of us. Your work matters! Thank you."
— Romy