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Ep 5 - Youth Codesign and Participation, with Fran McEwen

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Introducing Fran McEwen

Fran McEwen isn’t one to do things by half-measures.

With a strong awareness of how she experiences bipolar, she has learned to use this to her advantage. She sets bigger than normal goals. We’re not talking marathons… we’re talking ultramarathons!

Several years ago, Fran saw a gap in young women participating in organised sport. This led her to found Shift, which focuses on empowering the holistic wellbeing of young women. Codesign is at the heart of everything Shift does. The organisation has flourished from a tiny seed initially focused on young women getting physically active to what it is today.

Fran also has a day-job working with Sport New Zealand, where she influences the systems that enable people to get active and stay active.

You can connect with Fran on LinkedIn or feel free to flick her an email.

In today’s episode you’ll learn:

  • How putting co-design in the centre of your organisation will lead to greater impact (and the importance of letting go of your assumptions).

  • The value in starting small and setting boundaries when creating a new way to lead innovation. We explore this through the story of the Innovation for Young Women Design Challenge.

  • How to create safe environments to codesign - especially with young people.

Resources mentioned in this episode


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