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Woodcock, Andree; Gardner, Sheena; Naz, Uzma

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Developing countries, such as Pakistan are at the forefront of working on UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The problems faced by resource-constrained people (RCP) living in these countries are multidimensional [1]. Design, with its central idea of changing an undesired situation into a desired one [2] can provide holistic approaches and solutions that satisfy needs of resource-constrained people in developing countries [3]. The creation of research led, impactful solutions requires an efficient and well-integrated research infrastructure and research/design capacity to design and execute research in challenging environments. The British Council support the delivery of training courses to build national research capacity in Pakistan. Drawing on the authors’ experiences of delivering such a course, this paper considers problems related to impact and stakeholder engagement, especially the extent to which codesign features in project planning, and the difficulties of conducting fieldwork. Analysis of coursework and the ‘end-of-course’ world café reveals the researchers’ commitment to addressing UN SDGs, the levels of participatory engagement, challenges to working with stakeholders and tensions in research assessment methods. The paper closes with recommendations for Pakistan and ways in which this analysis and reflection can inform the design of future courses

Keywords:

design, stakeholder engagement, Pakistan, Sustainable Development Goals, research capacity building