Xiaohongshu
Join us for our Co-Creation Workshops for Canal Engagement project
The Research Volunteering programme through the Community Research Initiative gives YOU the power to take your research and classroom skills out into the community to create a positive social impact. Through our bite size projects, you’ll work with a group of interdisciplinary peers and organisational allies to tackle a project that will draw on your research skills. These projects are flexible and designed with students in mind to give you amazing experience to fuel your CV, explore new skills, and meet other likeminded students. Each opportunity is unique, make sure to check out our page for more information.
All about the organsiation
CCNA is a charity and our main aims are to help those in the community who are disadvantaged. We are a registered charity run by volunteers. Our goal is to help improve people's mental health and wellbeing through canal cruises, and community. We provide a range of social and educational opportunities for people living/working in the London Borough of Camden and the surrounding area. The focus of these activities is centred around narrowboats and the canals. Tarporley is one of the few remaining traditional narrowboats left, our work with her is helping to keep canal history alive for its passengers as well as its future.
A bit about the project
The key question for Camden Canals and Narrow Boat Association is why charities (or gatekeepers for people who are going through hardship and are based in the Camden Borough and surrounding Boroughs) are not picking up the free opportunity to go on boat trips. Marcus Ellenby (Director and Trustee) attends outreach events and connects with volunteers and trustees of various organisations. While all or most people agree that going for a boat trip is a great activity, the follow-through to organise the day out is very low. Even though the organisation is aware of risk factors, e.g. for schools and children to go on trips, and can support prospective attendees with travel costs to participate in the boat trips, the uptake is still low. Despite this, commercial opportunities are regularly booked by private people and companies. Thus, for paying customers, “a nice day out on the water” is sufficient to reach out and book the day. So, why do charities not take up the opportunity for free?
- What can I expect from this opportunity?
- Trying out essential community research skills such as co-creation and workshop facilitation
- Working in a team of fellow students to organise workshops and interviews
- Practicing cross sector communication by seeking insights from charity workers and volunteers
- Developing excellent communication and information synthesis practices
- Getting to experience canal and riverboat history in the real world!
- How will my work on this project impact the community?
- Give CCNBA a strong understanding of how to improve their engagement and raise awareness of their vital services
- Make charity personelle and volunteers feel heard and seeing through empathetic interviewing
- Use your research findings to develop plans for action that will be implemented by the charity
What key tasks will the volunteer team be responsible for?
- Co-creation Workshop Planning
- Work with the organisation to agree on goals and shape the overall plan.
- Design each workshop: who needs to be there, what you’ll cover, how you’ll keep it creative, who’s leading each part, timings, materials, and how you’ll capture insights.
- Workshop 1: Map the current outreach process and dig into why each step exists.
- Workshop 2: Explore who CCNA wants to reach and what those groups actually need.
- Workshop 3: Build clear value propositions for the three priority groups and partner organisations (see here for a template to work though).
- Workshop Delivery
- Run the workshops and keep the energy high.
- Between Workshops 2 and 3, if you can, speak directly with organisations CCNA hopes to partner with to understand what a “day on the water” could offer their communities.
- After Workshop 3, test your value propositions with real organisations if time allows—quick, informal feedback is perfect.
- Information Synthesis and review
- Pull together everything you learned across the workshops.
- Compare it with CCNA’s existing materials to spot gaps or contradictions.
- Create a clear, improved outreach process with decision points that help CCNA judge how long to pursue each organisation.
- Develop practical recommendations to help CCNA strengthen their pitch and increase their chances of securing partnerships.
- Present findings
- Present your outreach map, insights, and recommendations in a clear, engaging way.
- Gather feedback and polish everything for the final handover.
What skills will I practice and develop during this experience?
- Build real world experience organising and facilitate co-creation workshops
- Grow your qualitative skills through interviewing stakeholders
- Become skilled at synthesizing qualitative findings and multiple data sources, and communicating them visually
- Try your hand at applying business tools to support the charity in framing their offer for different audiences
- Experience what its like to recommend future work and research projects, including an opportunity to work on their dissertation with the charity