It was my absolute privilege to be a part of the co-design team for the One Stop One Story (OSOS) Hub. TCP and Yarra Valley Water have always felt a deep connection to the collaboration that has been evident in The Hub’s creation and it’s fantastic to see it live and operational and achieving some positive outcomes for so many in our community. Collaboration on this scale is never easy, but I think I share in everyone’s excitement for what we have already achieved as a united group of organisations and individuals, and for what is to come.
Co-designing an intricate and unique tech portal like the OSOS Hub requires a lot of patience, care and consideration, especially considering the ethical data commitments and structures required for such an endeavor.
Co-designing an intricate and unique tech portal like the OSOS Hub requires a lot of patience, care and consideration, especially considering the ethical data commitments and structures required for such an endeavor. Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) is an extremely complex space and definitions of abuse can be unclear, which is why hearing from and working alongside people with lived experience has played such an integral role in our co-design process. The list of guidelines and agreements to align the working group and ensure best practice is extensive, and showcases how carefully and methodically we approached the co-design of The Hub. These included:
- Ways of Working Agreement
- Design Principles
- Design of requirements of OSOS portal
- Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Framework
- Service Level Commitments (SLA)
- Complaints Framework
- Ethical Data Commitments
- Privacy Impact Assessment, Consent Scripting
- Service Agreement
- Partnering Framework
Designing these guidelines together ensured that The Hub would respect each partner’s own (as well as shared) interests and created a real sense of unity in our commitment to better the lives of the humans The Hub aims to serve. Guided by the Partnership Brokering Principles of Relishing Diversity, Building Equity, Being Open, Ensuring Mutual Benefit and Being Courageous, the OSOS Hub is a remarkable feat of collaboration and combines the unique and varied opinions and needs of all organisations involved in the co-design process.
As we continue our journey through The Hub’s pilot program, our collaboration is ongoing, which we know will be essential to the project's success.
As we continue our journey through The Hub’s pilot program, our collaboration is ongoing, which we know will be essential to the project's success. Creating feedback loops with users of The Hub and clients, and monitoring, evaluating and learning from people’s experience with the portal keeps us accountable to these humans and to each other.
Trust has also been a key challenge and focus point for the OSOS Hub and was central to the co-design process. Trust in ourselves and our team to offer adequate support. Trust in the cross-sector working group to provide safe, warm referrals across sectors and industries. And of course, trust from the people we aim to serve. Without the trust from The Hub’s client cohort to feel safe in engaging with the platform, our ability to affect positive change in the lives of these humans falls apart.
Ensuring empathy in our practice and designing a system that uses appropriate supportive language to create a safe space for these people has been an essential aspect in designing the OSOS Hub and developing this sense of trust.
Ensuring empathy in our practice and designing a system that uses appropriate supportive language to create a safe space for these people has been an essential aspect in designing the OSOS Hub and developing this sense of trust. Consistent contact points have allowed us to bring a sense of flexibility into our relationship with those we connect with, and maintaining supportive case management strategies allows us to offer these people the wrap around support they deserve.
Each of these key elements of the OSOS Hub have come with their own unique challenges and barriers, and we continue to adapt and learn better ways of working as The Hub grows and develops. Working alongside members from across corporate and community sectors, this process has reinforced my commitment to fostering a high level of collaboration and community engagement within our service ecosystem and has been a source of inspiration for the potential we have as a collective group of services.
The OSOS Hub has and will continue to offer lessons in co-design and collaboration and I feel, as I’m sure many people do, that we will look back on the creation of this project as a huge step forward for us as a united, connected and supportive ecosystem of services.
