Ancestral Voices Design or AV Design

Innovation is a crucial driver of economic and social progress, holding the potential to address challenges in new and creative ways. Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples is amongst the most significant and complex challenges facing Canada today, and it will require innovative approaches across all sectors and levels of Government. As Governor General Mary Simon recently noted, “Reconciliation requires a [whole-system] approach, breaking down barriers, and rethinking how to accelerate our work.” 

The current system often overlooks the importance and value of Indigenous knowledge and ancestral wisdoms, resulting in missed opportunities for more inclusive and sustainable solutions to complex social, economic, and environmental challenges faced by Indigenous communities and society at large. 

At this time there are no design platforms available that can synthesize emerging design-thinking frameworks into community, cultural, and ancestral pedagogies and approaches. Local and global problems such as social exclusion, polarization and the climate crisis will require unique approaches to design that allow for more inclusive, sustainable, and integrated solutions. In Canada and around the world, mechanisms to efficiently facilitate meaningful co-designed solutions alongside the communities most affected are needed to address the full implementation of Indigenous Rights and Title, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and other ongoing work to address the Truth & Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action, the Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women and Girls 231 Calls for Justice, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's), honour numerous land claims and treaty settlements, and numerous other transformation strategies and promises.  

An Indigenous approach to innovation will create solutions grounded in local knowledge, values, and practices. Inclusive and sustainable development must empower Indigenous people and local communities, and it must equally promote social and environmental equity however, existing co-design models using conventional or even modern Western approaches fall short because most continue to uphold the hierarchical and Euro-centric values within their own structures and processes that perpetuated the problems to begin with.  

The world is in a climate crisis, societies are increasingly polarized, and the access divide continues to grow, and we are in an ever-changing innovation and design landscape, including rapid technological advancements. The development of a framework that can integrate scientific, digital, and technological solutions, including AI, neuro-behavioural science, and smart technologies with the wisdoms that have sustained Indigenous and other societies still connected to their ancestral roots for millennia is needed to address the missing and most important elements meaningful design thinking needs.

There is a need for our systems and structures to move beyond check box engagement, funding, or participation targets to one that prioritizes re-rooting Indigenous traditional knowledge, values, culture, and languages. The AV Design approach will use an Indigenous design practice as the basis of the design process to create systems and processes grounded in the story of the Land, integrates ongoing collaboration cycles, and supports collective healing as integral to design. The platform is for Indigenous and non-Indigenous investors, philanthropists, government bureaucrats, and Indigenous entrepreneurs and innovators to collaborate and co-create solutions using otherwise excluded knowledge and understandings. AV Design will provide a framework for bringing together people from diverse backgrounds to collaborate and design inclusive systems and processes using local, Indigenous, and ancestral ways of doing, alongside contemporary approaches and technologies. The platform provides a unique opportunity to learn, share, and collaborate using intersectional, intergenerational, and interconnected approaches, ensuring Indigenous and other underserved communities are empowered to integrate their knowledge and ways to solve complex social, economic, and environmental challenges, making it more meaningful and relevant to everyone.

First Peoples' have deep knowledge of the land and it’s ability to support holistic, sustainable, and “all life”-centred (v. human-centred) transformational new scientific and technological advances as they are being developed. Indigenous design practice intuitively includes values and approaches such as:

Grounding - Connecting to the Land on which the design process is taking place and/or will be implemented. These can be tangible, material, or actual presence on the Land. Holistic grounding exercises such as meditations, walking/being on the Land, and other sensory mechanisms such as virtual reality may be included, as well as the integration and prioritization of environmentally sustainable considerations, practices, and missions.

Spirit - Connecting to our intentions for the design process by including things such as ceremony, teachings, traditional protocols, fire, feasts, etc. and honouring local, Indigenous, and other ancestral ways and wisdoms.

Relations - Defining the voices needed in the process, a First People’s approach reduces the silos and segregation of typical design and decision-making structures. Relational, social, and kin-connected mapping will enhance the design practice with the intentional integration of cross-sectoral participation (users, providers, helpers) and methodologies for diminishing power dynamics and optimizing community investment. Tech-enabled neuro-behavioural techniques, monitoring, and other approaches will also be integrated.

Wisdom - Indigenous design practice uses a “3-eye” approach to decolonize time and understand past, present, and future considerations. This includes design approaches that honour historical insights and contexts with ancestral teachings and frameworks, providing landscape analysis of relevant programs, services, and spaces with data analytics tools such as Smart City-enabled technology, to identify gaps and opportunities. Indigenous 7th-generation teaching principles and the use of strategic foresight, game theory, and other contemporary approaches and technology will support co-defining, visualizing, and prioritizing problems that will ultimately work toward collaborative, inclusive and sustainable solutions. 

Design - Processes to define, ideate, analyze, prioritize, strategize, prototypes, test/pressure test, and implement solutions will be grounded in Indigenous concepts of spirit, ceremony, relationships, wisdom, and action, and will work from circular, holistic, and Land-based design processes.

The goal is to create a more inclusive, sustainable, and equitable society by using Indigenous knowledge and approaches and then leveraging contemporary theories and technologies to solve complex challenges.

Our customers will be investors, philanthropists, government bureaucrats, entrepreneurs, and/or innovators who are interested in designing innovative and inclusive systems and processes for private, philanthropic, and public sectors. The problem they face is not the lack of opportunity to learn and collaborate with people from diverse backgrounds and experiences, it is how the knowledge, approaches, values and worldviews of Indigenous and underserved populations are so frequently undervalued. Simply put, the systems and processes to support design thinking fail to solve the very social, economic, and environmental challenges because the capacity to support the meaningful inclusion of those who are closest to the problem is missing.

The AV Design platform roots its systems and processes in intersectional, intergenerational, and interconnected approaches and is intended to be used by a wide range of stakeholders, including:

1.     Indigenous and underserved communities, to use the platform to design solutions that are grounded in their community and cultural knowledges and that address their unique social, economic, and environmental challenges

2.     Governments could use the platform to design policies and programs that are more inclusive, sustainable, and equitable, and that take into account the unique experiences and needs of different groups

3.     Corporations could use the platform to design products and services that are more sustainable, ethical, and that address the social and environmental impact of their operations

4.     Non-governmental organizations could use the platform to design projects and programs that are more effective and inclusive, and that address the root causes of social, economic, and environmental challenges.

5.     Combinations of any of the above

Our approach will help bridge the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, and between underserved and everyday communities, by promoting intercultural understanding, cooperation, and collaboration. This has the potential to create more equitable and just outcomes in areas such as education, healthcare, urban planning, economic development, and environmental management.

By integrating Indigenous knowledge systems and approaches into mainstream systems, the AV Design approach has the potential to generate more sustainable and effective solutions to complex social, economic, and environmental challenges for all life, leading to a more resilient and thriving society for all.

This innovation is designed to benefit all life, people and the planet, with a special focus on bridging our client’s capacity to amplify and integrate the voices of First Peoples and other underserved populations. By facilitating processes grounded in local, Land-, and cultural knowledge and protocols, not only will those voices be engaged, but ‘how’ we deliver our design practice will amplify and empower those same voices as well. We are far more likely to utilize a product or service if we feel invested in it. This can be a financial investment, but a personal and values-aligned investment can be achieved through time spent participating in its development, bringing emotional connections to it, and seeing how our family, our community, or our environment will be positively affected. Reconciliation will be impossible to achieve if we rely on altruism. Solutions that serve all our relations need everyone to work together as equals.

We will support our clients to build their own relationship journeys with relevant local Indigenous and/or underserved populations and to form true partnerships in the collaborative design practice so it can continue to grow and flourish. Communities will benefit by having their voices represented in meaningful ways, building their individual and collective capacities, generating strong new relationships and networks, and by participating in the co-creation of solutions that are culturally informed, relevant to their needs, mutually beneficial, and designed in a way that ensures that social, economic, and environmental wellbeing is at the forefront.

I am not a tech person. I am a community developer who has worked for almost three decades with Indigenous and underserved communities to address equity, inclusion, and access in health, civic engagement, research, education, planning, social finance, and other sectors. My roots are Anishnawbe from Northern Ontario along the Sauble, Spanish, and Missinaibi Rivers, with connections to Montreal via 4th generation settlers with roots in Ireland and Scotland. Working in service to the community has allowed me to find creative and dynamic ways of formally and informally engaging clients and community in a way that is culturally safe and trauma aware. 

There is a distinct privilege and many challenges to being in service to and a member of the community you work with. When you are a service provider to a group you are a part of and that is also historically and ongoingly oppressed by the need for those services, there are additional and different kinds of responsibilities. This pushed me to be mindful of the systems and structures that uphold power dynamics, and intentional about establishing a practice that works to dismantle them. Relationships are key. Relationality from an Indigenous worldview, including all my relations, bridges equality when it is a part of the design tool.

When I opened my first business I was told “Go find the grannies and the aunties if you want the young people to come to use your service, because they are the ones whose advice they follow in our community”. This advice has always served me well. We are told that everyone in the community has roles and responsibilities, even the babies. Their job is to bring joy. Youth bring energy and innovation. Adults do the work and provide care. Elders bring wisdom and perspective. We all have a role and together we can do anything. And so, I sit and drink tea with my Elders and aunties, who support me when I need advice and share the teachings my family and community lost due to colonial and residential school impacts. And I integrate ceremony into my practice so that our hearts and minds can come together in a good way and so that spirit can guide the work.

I AM a tech person. And I am a community developer, with a large community of helpers and advisors all around me.

I am applying to Solve to support the integration of neuro-behavioural and tech-enabled solutions into this design practice. I also need support to understand the distinct legal and data-governance implications of the Ancestral Voices Design practice as a tech platform. Additionally, as it is still in the conceptualization stage, any support to evolve the business case, including but not limited to the pricing strategy, marketing strategy, and fundraising strategy, would also be welcome. MIT is a leader in design-thinking and innovation. I want to be a part of this community of leaders. 

Sara Wolfe (kwe/she/her) is Anishnawbe and a status First Nations band member. She is a 23-year resident and active community member in Tkaronto, Canada (Toronto). She established a midwifery practice focused on serving Indigenous pregnant people and families in 2005 that remains in operation, offering access to culturally informed and Indigenous-led perinatal care to more than 300 families per year. She was the co-lead on the development and implementation of the Toronto Birth Centre, Canada's only Indigenous-led mainstream healthcare facility that uses and Indigenous governance and decision-making framework. She has also been very active at the provincial, national, and international level in supporting Indigenous organizations with governance, programming, leadership, membership, advisory services, and other important contributions across heath, education, justice, economic and community development, and urban planning. She additionally stays connected to her ancestral home territory and community through family and political activities. Sara's roots in Indigenous communities run very deep. 

The Ancestral Voices Design solution is innovative because it is deeply rooted in Indigenous design practice principles, which have historically been excluded from mainstream business and innovation processes, then integrates contemporary systems-thinking, neurobehavioural theory, and other tech-enabled approaches. By being based in these perspectives, the solution has the potential to address the longstanding oppression of Indigenous peoples and other underserved populations in these areas and promote greater equity and inclusion.

This solution is innovative because it bridges the critical gap between Indigenous and conventional mainstream design approaches by being designed from Indigenous and ancestral design practice and then applying contemporary frameworks. Most models designed to work with Indigenous peoples try to find ways to Indigenize their processes but the structure still upholds Western pedagogies. This solution considers from the outset the intersectional, intergenerational, and interconnected nature of complex challenges. The AV Design approach recognizes that solutions to challenges such as urban design, healthcare, education, and climate mitigation must be holistic and involve multiple stakeholders working together as equals towards a common goal.

Our collaboration model brings together diverse groups of individuals from different sectors and backgrounds to share knowledge, ideas, and experiences as equal voices. By supporting these connections, the solutions designed by its participants has the potential to catalyze broader positive impacts by promoting even greater cross-sector collaboration and innovation. It has the potential to change the market by promoting a more inclusive and equitable approach to business and innovation that recognizes the value of Indigenous knowledge and perspectives. By doing so, it could inspire others in this space to adopt similar approaches and catalyze broader positive impacts toward greater equity and inclusion.

It will be important for the Ancestral Voices Design platform to engage and validate impact goals with the communities being served, with potential short- and long-term goals as follows:

Short-term

1.     Formal and informal participant feedback reports indicate that the Ancestral Voices Design methodologies contribute to feelings of being meaningfully included, involved, and invested in the co-designed solutions.

2.     Underserved communities indicate that they feel a sense of inclusion and representation in the development of new co-designed products, programs, or services, including reports of increased access, benefit, and/or participation.

Over the longer term, impact goals would include: 

3.     The AV Design platform tech integrations, such as system mapping and data-analysis tools, allow for a better understanding and inclusion of underserved communities' needs into co-created solutions.

4.     Solutions to complex social, economic and/or environmental challenges co-created using the AV Design platform are implemented and reports indicate they meaningfully include and benefit Indigenous and other underserved peoples and communities.

5.     The business expands to other regions and countries to support the integration of Indigenous, cultural and other ancestral knowledge systems into co-created solutions

6.     A community of practice evolves for practitioners of Indigenous design practice that incorporates ancestral knowledge systems, supporting ongoing learning and collaboration.

7.     High level policy and system change based on the impact of innovations co-created using AV Design.

While the UN SDG's are important and not unaligned with the objectives of the AV Design platform, the relevance of their indicators is not well aligned with Indigenous priorities or indicators of progress, particularly within the Canadian context. 

The AV Design platform would look to Indigenous methodologies to measure progress towards our impact goals including methods such as storytelling, ceremonial and Land-based methods, and deep reflection. It will also aim to ensure Indigenous ethical, relational, participatory, restorative, and reciprocal principles are engaged. Some of the methods we may use to measure our impact goals include:

1.    Feedback cycles will be integrated into the business design through both elicited and tech-enabled solutions. Feedback will additionally be gathered through key-informant interviews, focus groups, and/or other traditional or local practices.

2.    Support for clients and participants to measure and report on access, benefit, and/or participation in implemented prototypes.

3.    Hire expertise to monitor and analyze tech-enabled data to support understanding of how tools facilitate and enhance the AV Design processes and resulting solutions.  

4.    Monitoring and tracking business success indicators (revenue, profits, marketing/communications, level of executive engagement, regionality, etc.). We will also monitor and track problem complexity indexes and participant engagement levels to assess the degree of impact the AV Design processes are having.

5.    Work with the team and investors to define community-informed impact indicators aligned to existing guiding frameworks such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action, the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls’ 231 Calls for Justice, relevant artless of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and markers of relevance to our proposed SDG impact areas.

Activities:

Ground the AV Design process in Indigenous and ancestral design practice. 

Layer contemporary digital, technological, and neuro-behavioural approaches onto the design practice. 

Deliver the AV Design practice in collaboration with relevant users, helpers, providers and facilitators. 

Outputs:

Co-created prototypes to solve complex social, health, economic, and environmental challenges are designed and supported to be operationalized

The needs and priorities of all collaborators are heard and integrated, and the voices of Indigenous and underserved communities are amplified and empowered.

Outcomes: 

There is an increase in the number of inclusive, equitable, and sustainable solutions to local and global grand challenges being developed and implemented. 

Enhanced well-being for all people and the planet. 

Theory of Change: 

If we ground collaborative problem-solving processes in Indigenous and ancestral design practices, that also layer contemporary digital, tech, and neuro-behavioural science approaches, then the voice of Indigenous and under-served populations and communities will be valued and their needs and priorities will be served, with collaborative co-creation processes developing more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable solutions to local and global grand challenges. 

Indigenous and ancestral design practices form the basis for this innovation. These practices are deeply rooted in our understanding of and relationship to the Land, 7th-generation teachings (on time and responsible decision-making), clan systems and other Indigenous governance practices, Natural Law, sustainability, and teachings on the interconnectedness of all things (animate and inanimate). It aims to restore balance in both our human interactions and environmental impacts. It is relational, reciprocal, sustainable, and interconnected. It has always been innovative, and always allowed for innovation to flourish - pre-contact and since. 

Indigenous and ancestral design practice is also contemporary. The technology sector is particularly well suited to adopting to an Indigenous design methodology, given its focus on innovation and user experience. The AV Design platform and processes will then help to ensure that the technology is accessible to people with a wide range of abilities and access.

Technology will play a crucial role in supporting the AV Design platform because there are some wide technology gaps that need to be addressed to enable more effective and inclusive design across various sectors. The AV Design platform aims to explore ways to layer existing and new technological solutions into its process to facilitate approaches from an Indigenous or ancestral lens and grounded in contemporary community contexts. The technological solutions being considered to accelerate the inclusion of Indigenous design practice in  solving social, economic and environmental grand challenges, includes but is not limited to: 

1.    Accessible design tools to support accessibility and inclusivity. While they are still limited in availability and functionality there is a need for more comprehensive design tools that can support the user experience in the creation of inclusive design, and to integrate accessibility checks in real-time.

2.    Tools that support data collection and analysis will be needed to support the identification and evaluation of the needs and perspectives of the diverse user groups involved more efficiently. Network analysis software can be gathered in real-time and used to analyze and understand the complex social, economic, and environmental systems involved, and to identify patterns and relationships within any given system. This will help to identify key stakeholders, mitigate power dynamics, and identify areas of collaboration and conflict within a system. It will additionally allow for more effective processes to analyze and integrate data in the collaborative workshops and to reflect different perspectives into designed prototypes and/or implementation strategies.

3.    Artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies are increasingly being used but still struggling to design and develop solutions in unbiased and inclusive ways. The AV Design platform research and development efforts will support ways to mitigate and address potential biases and ensure that the technologies do not perpetuate systemic inequalities. Additionally, software such as GIS can be used to map and analyze spatial data related to land use, natural resources, and cultural features. This can help to identify patterns and relationships within a system and support group understanding of how different factors are interconnected.

4.    The integration of AI and machine learning technologies will also be explored to enhance efficiencies in the development of collaborative design prototypes and to mitigate investment costs of investors/customers for the integral Land-based, relationship-building, and cultural practices. Data visualization tools will be needed to create interactive visualizations of complex data sets, making it possible to efficiently identify patterns and relationships within a system. Virtual reality can enhance empathy through experiential exposures and augmented visualizations. Social network analysis tools can be used to visualize and analyze the relationships and interactions between individuals, organizations, and communities. Knowledge translation capabilities are necessary to help to identify areas of opportunity or concern and to communicate complex information to a wide range of stakeholders.

5.    Interoperability of design tools will be needed to support existing and new tech integrations, design tools, and software applications that will allow for the integration of diverse inputs, neuro-behavioural monitoring, and stakeholders' perspectives with existing digital and tech innovations, whether it is wide-reaching Smart Cities integrations or small personal object technologies, into a single design process.

Ultimately, tech solutions will be integrative and use will depend on the specific needs and context of prospective clients, as well as the available resources and access to expertise. Most of my experience is working closely with Indigenous and other equity-deserving communities and organizations to identify meaningful and culturally appropriate solutions for their needs and priorities, and then helping to design the programs and services to achieve them. An Indigenous design practice platform that leverages local and global ancestral wisdoms and enables technologies to intuitively and meaningfully support those integrations is desperately needed. 

This innovative solution is led by a queer, female, Indigenous single parent with an extensive track record in creating inclusive and diverse workplaces, program designs, and service delivery options. 

This innovation is a solution for creating more diverse, accessible, equitable, and inclusive designs for all of society, and to creating more sustainable solutions for all life (people and planet). 

Roaring Dandelions (TBD) will be a fully Indigenous-owned design tech company that provides management consulting and collaborative design services grounded in non-Western pedagogies and practices to create space for more inclusive and sustainable design. Its business model is still conceptual and so much of this is speculative and subject to change as things evolve, however, it provides a baseline for the thinking behind the proposed innovation and the business model it will operate from.

Grounded in almost three decades of Indigenous program and service design and development, Sara Wolfe is an entrepreneur with a depth of knowledges she wants to leverage for AV Design or Ancestral Voices Design. The company will integrate contemporary tech applications into a design practice grounded in generations of Land-based understandings and ancestral wisdoms. The program will work with public, private, and philanthropic actors to partner with community and stakeholder providers, facilitators, helpers, and end users in the co-creation of design solutions to pressing problems and priorities.

AV Design will facilitate the co-creation of new solutions using our unique design processes and support in developing comprehensive implementation strategies. AV Design’s facilitated design process offerings will include preparation work, planning, research, pre- and post-engagement sessions, guided design workshops and design sprints, and support with the production of larger design convenings. As our tech capabilities grow, there is potential that sufficiently large amounts of data will be collected throughout AV Design processes. Analysis of this data could enhance understanding in areas such as how neuro-behavioural informed techniques are observed and facilitated and their effect, other kinds of group facilitation efficiencies, and/or social impacts. As patterns in the data emerge, there is the potential for building more enhanced data analytics, storytelling, and thought leadership.

Mandates to implement, monitor and report equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies, along with corporate and government responses to social awakenings, Reconciliation Action, and the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), will require capacity to demonstrate meaningful engagement with Indigenous and other underserved community partners. There is a possibility this could become a key niche for the company.

Our goal is to create space for the voices of Indigenous and otherwise underserved populations to be empowered and integrated into the new and emerging solutions so that they will be relevant, contextualized, and accessible to them. More inclusive, just, and sustainable design will benefit all life, for people and the planet, and the capacity to bring together people from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to collaborate and co-create as more equal voices will work to break down the systems and structures that uphold barriers to inclusive representation and shared power.

We will know we are creating an impact when the voices of everyone are integrated into the implemented solutions, and when those voices who have been historically silenced are articulating access, participation, and benefit, and when relationships and healing extend beyond AV Design processes itself. 

Immediate costs will be needed to support the identification, integration, and testing of optimal tech and neuro-behavioural science innovations into the Indigenous design practice processes and tools. Additional support is required to develop the IP for AV Design’s framework, for branding, market analysis, and development of our pricing, promotion, and fundraising strategies. Initial revenue streams will be based solely on our capacity to facilitate engagements using the Indigenous Design Practice processes, without the proposed tech integrations. As the integrations are realized and refined, processes can be standardized to allow for the team to scale audience size and/or the number and complexity of collaboration projects.

Access to training and resources to support the adoption of inclusive design practices will continue to be a challenge for many organizations. We also want to explore opportunities to develop more accessible, affordable, and comprehensive training resources to adopt technological literacy capacity building by diverse organizations.

Other potential revenue streams include grants and awards from public, private, philanthropic, and academic sources such as Mitacs, the National Research Council IRAP program, the $318-million Connected Minds initiative at York and Queens Universities, or any number of accelerator programs, etc. Future revenue will be based on consulting and professional fees, and potential modifications to the Indigenous Design Practice processes with or without the tech integrations to support community-level design sprints for capacity building with youth or people from harder-to-reach areas. 

Profits feel some time away, but as an Indigenous-led business aiming to advance inclusive economies, a framework for how Roaring Dandelions can extend meaningful financial support and mentorship to historically excluded emerging innovators who are aligned with our values of creating inclusive, interconnected, and sustainable new creations will be prioritized.

We are still conceptual and have not yet received any external investments.