CII is partnering with Dalberg's Design Impact Group (DIG) to utilize human-centered design across the Bureau for Global Health's work. Below, we have outlined two major themes as possible ways to leverage HCD in your work: Designing for User Needs and Improving Collaboration across Diverse Stakeholders.
Design for User Needs (and reduce risk by engaging them early)
Development programs frequently target the same beneficiaries - there is potential for implementers to gain a more holistic picture of beneficiaries’ needs and expectations. HCD integrates a broad set of practices around a common understanding of beneficiary needs that can improve strategic decision-making as well as increase the effectiveness of individual programs. We work with all stakeholders, from end-beneficiaries to key decision-makers, to align around the most promising opportunities to create value across the ecosystem, before engaging in specific program designs through rapid prototyping.
TARGET THE RIGHT USER GROUP AND VALUE PROPOSITION FOR AN OFFERING OR INTERVENTION
We have seen many organizations get stuck in long program planning cycles and then invest valuable resources in expensive pilots without taking the simple step to understand their beneficiaries early-on. Key elements of program design are compromised because program designers did not have a sufficiently coordinated or holistic view towards different stages of the user journey – from awareness to engagement to retention. Drawing best practices from the private sector, DIG utilizes user insights to create a holistic picture of needs and opportunities across the entire service delivery experience.
DRIVE THE ADOPTION AND SCALE-UP OF NEW HEALTH BEHAVIORS
Global health programs generally require influencing multiple dimensions of a complex ecosystem. Too often these separate touchpoints are considered in isolation. The resulting experience for beneficiaries, as well as for providers and other stakeholders, is fragmented with the value of the proposed intervention unclear for each member within the ecosystem. Our team is able to rapidly identify the value proposition of given programs for target beneficiaries and test a range of incentive and behavior change models. Our approach uses techniques from social science and participatory design to ensure that the results are structured and rigorous.
RAPIDLY CONCEPTUALIZE, PROTOTYPE, AND TEST NEW INTERVENTIONS AND ENSURE INTERVENTIONS ARE FEASIBLE AND VIABLE FOR THE PROVIDER
Rapid prototyping is a process that builds an early sample or model of a product, service, or system in order to refine and validate the concept or generate new concepts. Prototyping can accelerate the process for testing assumptions and iterating through new product, program, or delivery models directly with participants. DIG specializes in using agile techniques to test and validate new product, program, or business concepts. Prototyping can fill a critical need by removing risk and increasing certainty early in the process in resource-constrained settings.
Case Studies: Ebola Epitent / IPP & Kappler
Improve Collaboration across Diverse Stakeholders
Impact is not just a function of understanding (and designing for) user needs. In most cases the reach and impact of a program is equally dependent on the network of partners that comes together to collaborate on a shared goal. Design can be a powerful tool to increase motivation and engagement across a broad set of diverse partners to get the most out of multi-sector collaborations, particularly those which involve public and private sector partners. DIG is skilled at creating highly collaborative environments as well as building creative problem solving capacity within partner organizations.
ESTABLISH AND COMMUNICATE A SHARED MISSION AND VISION ACROSS A DIVERSE SET OF STAKEHOLDERS
Frequently, organizations go to considerable expense and effort to bring together diverse stakeholders, only to make poor use of their time, missing the opportunity to generate new perspectives and approaches in an active and collaborative manner. DIG is fully acclimated to working across disciplines to drive alignment toward shared visions and breakthrough thinking. We employ a diverse set of skills and techniques drawn from design thinking, participatory design, scenario planning, and system mapping to design and facilitate collaborative working sessions with small and large groups of diverse stakeholders.
CREATE AND PROMOTE AGILE METHODS AND TOOLS WITHIN YOUR TEAM FOR INCREASED COLLABORATION AND CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING
The DIG team has deep experience creating toolkits and other training materials to support capacity building in a wide range of organizations in the public and private sector. We take a hands-on approach, which drives learning through active engagement. We believe many of the methods we employ have a strong element of common sense. We have seen time and again how individuals with a strong sense of curiosity and empathy – qualities that are readily available at USAID – lend themselves to the quick adoption of design and innovation methodologies.
IMPROVE THE USE (AND USEFULLNESS) OF DATA TO SUPPORT SHARED DECISION-MAKING
Communication technology can play a transformative role in increasing the availability and timeliness of information to support better decision-making and more meaningful collaborations in health. Our team is experienced in consolidating and transforming data into visual languages that bring the data to life. We work with multiple, diverse stakeholders to generate a picture of a dynamic system – such as community health or distribution channels – that reflects a common understanding of stakeholders, relationships, and feedback loops. We then translate this understanding into appropriate user experiences and data visualizations to strengthen health systems on a global and local level.
Design Use Cases and Methods
When leveraged appropriately, Engage HCD can strengthen each stage of program development. This program has been intentionally designed to be flexible in the ways in which HCD can be applied across various stages of program development. A few examples are noted below.
Method Descriptions
Quantitative research
The collection and analysis of large scale demographic and psychographic data through methods such as surveys and in interviews to gather representative data on current perceptions and practices
Qualitative research
Direct engagement with target users and influencers through interviews, observational and participatory techniques to gather directional data on emerging needs and behavior
Ethnography
A type of qualitative research based on the social sciences that relies on deep immersion in user’s lives and culture in order to minimize bias
User testing
The evaluation of a product or service by directly testing it with users, focusing on the product’s ability to meet users needs and fit into their lives so adoption is easy and natural
Product & service design
Use of agile techniques to test and validate new product, service or business concepts
Prototyping
The process of building an early sample or model of a product, service or system in order to refine and validate the concept or generate new concepts
Co-creation
The process whereby users directly participate in the design of a product or service intended for their use
Messaging & communication
The process of crafting the value proposition of a product or service in a way that is compelling and determining where and when that message is best communicated to different user segments
Awareness & access
Includes any activities to increase the knowledge and reach of a product or service among target user segments, including marketing and sales channels
Community engagement
The process of building long-term relationships with communities to increase trust and the potential to influence behavior and norms
USAID’s Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact (CII) is partnering with Dalberg’s Design Impact Group (DIG) to utilize HCD across the Bureau for Global Health's work. Please see the contact page to explore how you can engage HCD.