About Us
At the HCDExchange, we’re dedicated to advancing the application of human-centered design in public health. We work in low resource settings in Africa and Asia. ️The HCDExchange is a part of JSI and is managed jointly by JSI’s Behaviour Initiative and the Center for Health Information, Monitoring, and Evaluation (CHIME). The Behavior Initiative is a new corporate-level investment to mainstream behavioral thinking enterprise-wide (JSI, WEI, and affiliates) and to advance social and behavior change (SBC) projects and workstreams. CHIME is a technical assistance, research, and knowledge center dedicated to improving the quality of health information and increasing evidence-based decision-making in the health sector.
We work with stakeholders working or interested in working at the intersection of HCD+Public Health to leverage HCD approaches to improve implementation in low-resource settings.
How We Work
Since 2020, we have hosted a vibrant global Community of Practice (CoP). This diverse group of implementers, funders, designers, researchers, evaluators, and youth shares our vision and helps to improve the quality, shape the future and drive the promotion and uptake of HCD+Public Health.
We believe that human-centered HCD has the potential to transform the public health sector, and we are committed to translating this into practice.
Connect
Our X-Change forum connects practitioners to resources, opportunities and collaborators.
Lead
We accelerate workforce development by fostering quality professional development for local HCD talent, matching it to global demand for HCD expertise in public health through our Career Portal.
Learn
We spearhead knowledge, evidence, and engagement for a vibrant community of diverse practitioners to share expertise, insights and collaborate through our Knowledge Hub.
Support
We provide technical assistance for public health practitioners to promote the integration of HCD in public health programs and ways of working.
Our History
The HCDExchange grew out of a 2018 convening in Tanzania sponsored by the co-funders to share learning and insights emerging from the first large-scale projects working at the intersection of HCD and ASRH (e.g., Adolescents 360 (Kuwa Mjanja Tanzania, Smart Start Ethiopia and 9ja Girls Nigeria); Beyond Bias in Pakistan, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso; Diva Centres in Zambia; Choice 4 Change and Future Fab in Kenya). In November 2019, the co-funders awarded John Snow Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI) a grant to develop a diverse, dynamic and inclusive community of practice.
Since its inception as an inaugural global learning platform for HCD+ASRH, the HCDExchange has built a more cohesive, globally accessible and representative body of practitioners and policymakers; expanded the HCD+ASRH skills and capacity of practitioners and institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; and begun to generate a well-curated and researched body of evidence and learning that is tailored to different audiences and accessible to the entire global health community in one location.
After four years of community building and advancing learning in HCD and AYSRH, the HCDExchange embarked on a reflective journey to evaluate with the goal of establishing a viable and sustainable program. Through a consultative process with the HCDExchange community of practitioners and industry experts, we developed a new value proposition that seeks to promote localization, workforce development and user-centered health solutions.