This project is innovative because:

• Engaging persons with lived experience (PWLE) at the federal level is still a novel practice. There are not many opportunities to have policy analysts and PWLE at the same "table", and the use of transparent, collaborative tools is still uncommon. The kind of engagement we are calling for pushes the boundaries of current practices (e.g. consultations, surveys) and requires more accountability, transparency and relationship building.
• The project team attempted to embody a collaborative, partnership approach with PWLE throughout the project, including shared decision-making and authorship (both uncommon in government). This required the project team to pivot based on feedback from PWLE and be reflective about our traditional work processes.
• This project also highlighted the importance of qualitative data in a typically quantitative data-heavy organization. Changing mindsets on this particular point is an interesting challenge.

As of this submission, the project has completed a pilot of using co-design as a way of engagement and is currently diffusing lessons around the Department to promote others to attempt this method in their policy work. The project team is working on a funding proposal to co-design (with policy analysts and persons with lived experience) a training prototype specific to the findings. This will allow us to once again test the use of co-design, as well as develop a training product to support implementation of this approach throughout government.

Numerous project collaborators were involved, including:

• Advisory committee that consisted of policy analysts, engagement specialists, persons with lived experience
• Persons with lived experience and Engagement specialists across Canada that participated in interviews about engagement experiences
• Co-designers who planned the co-design session (persons with lived experiences, policy analysts, design researchers)
• Co-design participants (policy analysts, persons with lived experience)

This approach to engagement has the potential to: build trust in communities and humanizing people as active and valued contributors; ensure that PWLE experiences, including those from historically marginalized or underserved groups, are reflected in policies and programs, resulting in better health outcomes for all people living in Canada; increase the chances of policies being relevant and useful for those it is intended to serve, helping to circumvent misplaced investments.

This project employed open-ended qualitative research methods. The goal of the co-design stage was to use what we learned about engagement from interviews and an environmental scan to co-design desired futures of engagement, prioritize them, and ideate paths toward this preferred future state. By using this approach, we were also able to test what engagement might look like when it prioritizes collaborative and meaningful relationships. To do so, we designed a series of co-design sessions as a pilot. We learned through participant feedback that bringing people in as collaborators builds trust and makes engagement more impactful. This initial but powerful data signals to us to continue test trialing and prototyping this approach more broadly

This project required a shift in established mindsets in the organization around expertise, failure, and risk, and it surfaced tensions around existing decision-making structures. There was a learning curve for employees for trialing and adopting new technologies and ways of working. Overall, we are learning that the implementation of our findings is not straightforward as it requires change at a deep level (ways of working, mindsets). We are addressing these challenges by sharing them broadly across the Department in order to inspire reflections and conversations on how we can evolve our organization to be more risk-tolerant and innovative.

This project was funded under a specific innovation program (the Solutions Fund) which gave the project team funding, time, space, support to explore this problem and pilot a potential solution. Without this program, and the related rules, leadership, guidance and resources, this project would not have been possible. It points towards advocating for more "sandbox" spaces for policy work so we can ideate and test innovative ways of working prior to implementation.

This model can be replicated in a variety of organizations nationally and internationally. The approaches, mindsets and pilot that we share are written in a way that provides guidance yet honours the principles of co-design, which will be unique to each context and situation. We've presented this work in our organization and externally, including international audiences, and audience members have been keen to learn more and apply the work in their organization.

This project taught us that meaningful engagement was about a lot more than the engagement session itself — it was about embodying new ways of showing up for each other grounded in collaboration, humility, and trust. Specifically, the project:

• Redefined engagement from the perspective of PWLE;
• Tested a different engagement approach grounded in co-design and relationship building;
• Explored new ways of working and outlined mindset shifts that can help teams collaborate differently to create meaningful change.

The project findings are an invitation for the public sector to relate to engagement as a path to building more meaningful relationships with communities and each other, leading to more caring and equitable futures for all.