RedressHub: Co-Creation Track
RedressHub is a social valorisation project that maps and systematically documents redress initiatives in Belgium – and, in time, across Europe. It seeks to make complex and scattered information about colonial redress initiatives accessible, analysable and publicly visible. It aims to build an open, dynamic knowledge infrastructure through an interactive online interface, which users will be able to explore, query, and understand the evolving field of colonial redress.
To achieve this RedressHub will be developed through closely interwoven technical and co-creation tracks. On this page, we describe the co-creation Track, for more information on the technical track visit the page RedressHub: Technical Track.
Co-Creation as a Guiding Ethos
The co-creation track of RedressHub is grounded in the understanding that those directly involved in redress efforts should play a central role in shaping the platform intended to support their work. This commitment builds on Justice Visions’ experience with participatory research in the field of transitional justice and draws inspiration from decolonial methodologies. It places particular emphasis on knowledge equity and the diversification of perspectives, ensuring that often-marginalised voices are also actively involved in shaping the platform’s trajectory.
From the outset, we embrace a co-creative approach to designing semi-automated systems for data retrieval, classification, and structuring of information. We adopt a stakeholder-centred approach that foregrounds the agency of redress actors and the rights, concerns, and lived experiences of those most affected by the legacies of colonial harm. Concretely, the co-creation track involves bilateral meetings and conversations with redress stakeholders from different societal sectors, and a series of focus groups, which are conceived as collaborative design sessions. A broad range of stakeholders and potential users will also be engaged in the launch of the database prototype, to stimulate engagement and adoption, and to support the expansion to other regions.
This co-creative approach has several key objectives. In the first place, redress actors play a crucial role in shaping the knowledge structure that underpins RedressHub’s mapping of the redress landscape. They contribute to defining what constitutes redress, identifying relevant inclusion criteria, and co-developing typologies of initiatives and actors. Their situated knowledge and practical experience help refine how redress is conceptualised, not only in legal or institutional terms, but also through grassroots, cultural, and community-based understandings. This will support efforts for the database to capture a wide range of redress practices, including those that may fall outside conventional frameworks, while remaining sensitive to the specific historical and socio-political context of Belgium.
In practical terms, this also means that stakeholders will be closely involved in defining how RedressHub can best serve its user community and in guiding the technical development process. Their knowledge of the context, domain-specific practices, discourse, and terminology will be essential in building a context-sensitive information retrieval approach, reflecting broader debates around value-driven, human-centred AI. Additionally, during the prototype development phase, we will organise collective design sessions with stakeholders from different sections in society to refine data types, relationships, and filters, and to provide input and feedback on mock-ups of the interface design. This ensures the platform’s content, parameters, functionalities, and visualisations are aligned with the needs of its diverse user base.
This co-creative approach also extends to its ethics governance. In line with RedressHub’s value-driven design principles, ethical considerations are not treated as a fixed checklist but as a collaborative and evolving process. The project’s ethics protocols will be discussed, and futher adapted and finetuned through conversations with stakeholders. This ensures that ethical safeguards reflect the real concerns and priorities of those most directly affected by the representation, classification, and circulation of redress-related information.
Shaped by Users, for Users
Each phase of the co-creation track feeds directly into the technical development of RedressHub, ensuring the platform remains anchored in the lived realities and knowledge of justice actors. The result will be a discovery tool that reflects the complexity, urgency, and richness of the redress landscape.
RedressHub aspires to be a practical tool for those actively engaged in the struggle for redress, while also serving a broader user community. By providing a comprehensive and accessible mapping of colonial redress initiatives, the platform aims to contribute meaningfully to ongoing debates around historical injustice and repair. In doing so, it seeks to facilitates knowledge exchange and fosters new and diverse connections.
RedressHub is currently in its pilot phase in Belgium. If you’re working on redress in the Belgian context—or wish to be involved as the project expands across Europe—we would love to hear from you.
