Integrating Human-Centered Design to Advance Global Health: Lessons From 3 Programs
Human-centered design (HCD) is increasingly being used as a complementary approach to traditional global health methods due to its ability to bring new ideas to entrenched problems, integrate multiple stakeholder perspectives, and bring in a strong human lens among other advantages. This article distills lessons gathered from 3 programs leveraging HCD to advance global health programming: (1) the “V” program which used an HCD approach to reframe the once-a-day HIV prevention pill from a potentially stigmatizing medicine into empowering self-care; (2) the Adolescents 360 program which integrated HCD to create a service for adolescent girls to access contraception in Ethiopia and to scale this offering nationwide; and (3) Reimagining TA which used HCD to help shift perceptions around traditional technical assistance models to one of co-creation, defining a new approach for nonfinancial support for health systems strengthening. To inform global health programs that are considering employing an HCD approach, lessons learned are distilled into 3 categories: (1) planning: considerations for problem definition and project scoping to allow for flexibility and selection of appropriate methods; (2) engaging: reflections on the means to productively engage different stakeholder groups to build alignment, understanding, and buy-in; (3) applying: adoption of new ways of working during implementation to best take advantage of the benefits of HCD while promoting long-term program sustainability and learning. These lessons represent an important step on the pathway to demonstrate the contributions of HCD to improving the effectiveness of health programs at a time when the global health community needs the most robust set of tools possible to meet the demands of our current pandemic context and beyond.
5 Downloads
Human-centered design (HCD) is increasingly being used as a complementary approach to traditional global health methods due to its ability to bring new ideas to entrenched problems, integrate multiple stakeholder perspectives, and bring in a strong human lens among other advantages. This article distills lessons gathered from 3 programs leveraging HCD to advance global health programming: (1) the “V” program which used an HCD approach to reframe the once-a-day HIV prevention pill from a potentially stigmatizing medicine into empowering self-care; (2) the Adolescents 360 program which integrated HCD to create a service for adolescent girls to access contraception in Ethiopia and to scale this offering nationwide; and (3) Reimagining TA which used HCD to help shift perceptions around traditional technical assistance models to one of co-creation, defining a new approach for nonfinancial support for health systems strengthening. To inform global health programs that are considering employing an HCD approach, lessons learned are distilled into 3 categories: (1) planning: considerations for problem definition and project scoping to allow for flexibility and selection of appropriate methods; (2) engaging: reflections on the means to productively engage different stakeholder groups to build alignment, understanding, and buy-in; (3) applying: adoption of new ways of working during implementation to best take advantage of the benefits of HCD while promoting long-term program sustainability and learning. These lessons represent an important step on the pathway to demonstrate the contributions of HCD to improving the effectiveness of health programs at a time when the global health community needs the most robust set of tools possible to meet the demands of our current pandemic context and beyond.
Related products
-
Supporting Scalable, Youth-Powered Programming at the Community Level in Ethiopia: The Case of Smart Start
Add To FavouritesSupporting Scalable, Youth-Powered Programming at the Community Level in Ethiopia: The Case of Smart Start
A360’s Smart Start is an intervention that uses financial planning as an entry point to engage young married couples in planning their futures and reaching financial stability, positioning contraception as a tool to achieve their self-defined goals. Smart Start supports girls aged 15-19 and their partners to understand the resources they’ll need for the families they desire. This technical brief analyzes A360’s strategy and lessons learned to date, presenting a case study of the A360 experience in Ethiopia, and offering considerations for similar AYSRH implementation in future settings.
-
Integrating Human-Centered Design in a Multidisciplinary Effort to Address Provider Bias: A Summary of the Beyond Bias Experience
Add To FavouritesIntegrating Human-Centered Design in a Multidisciplinary Effort to Address Provider Bias: A Summary of the Beyond Bias Experience
With an aim to expand the knowledge base of application of HCD in global health programs, the Beyond Bias project has documented, in a three-part series, its experience using HCD in a multidisciplinary approach to develop effective, scalable adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health interventions. The briefs cover programmatic challenges and opportunities, outline salient ideas and concepts that were generated and tested, share key insights on provider bias, and present the finalized intervention design.
-
A360 Evaluation Findings Synthesis: No 1. How might we better meet the needs of adolescent couples with contraceptive counseling and services through Ethiopia’s Health Extension Program?
Add To FavouritesA360 Evaluation Findings Synthesis: No 1. How might we better meet the needs of adolescent couples with contraceptive counseling and services through Ethiopia’s Health Extension Program?
This publication is a summary of the process evaluation done by ITAD, for A360’s Smart Start project in Ethiopia. It highlights the methodology used for this process evaluation, and the key insights that were arrived at through action research with the users and a sounding workshop with the A360 team. The publication also provides direction and recommendations that are informed by the insights generated through the process evaluation of the Smart Start project. This is a great resource for implementers and evaluators who are seeking a methodology and some inspiration to evaluate their programs.
-
Men Stand Up
Add To FavouritesMen Stand Up
This report presents perceptions of young men (aged 18 to 24 years) on issues related to family planning in India, Kenya, Mali & Nigeria. Insights presented in this document highlight young men’s experiences, needs and vulnerabilities related to sexual and reproductive health in the four countries. It showcases how participatory design and quantitative approaches have been used to encourage young men to tell their stories and offer personal perspectives on what they care most about. Program implementers, design researchers and other ASRH practitioners would find this document useful, particularly to better understand contextual differences and similarities across select geographies.
Related products
-
Connecting Contraception to Girls’ Lives and Aspirations in Southern Nigeria: The Case of 9ja Girls
Add To FavouritesConnecting Contraception to Girls’ Lives and Aspirations in Southern Nigeria: The Case of 9ja Girls
Led by PSI and implemented by SFH Nigeria, 9ja Girls works in partnership with A360 young leaders and across Nigeria’s public health facilities to support unmarried girls aged 15-19 to identify their dreams, and then understand the role contraception can play to take them one step closer to achieving their goals. This technical brief presents the case of 9ja Girls, offering lessons for similar ASRH programs seeking to design and implement scalable, sustainable, community-based programming with and for adolescents.
-
Structural interventions aiming to enable adolescent use of contraception in low- and middle-income countries
Add To FavouritesStructural interventions aiming to enable adolescent use of contraception in low- and middle-income countries
Reducing adolescent pregnancy is a global public health priority and enabling contraceptive use is one way to achieve this. Broader determinants of contraceptive use, such as poverty, education and social norms, can affect knowledge, attitudes, motivation and ability to access and use contraception. Structural interventions aim to address these broader determinants and include cash transfer interventions, interventions to encourage participation in school, empowerment interventions and interventions aiming to change social norms. We conducted an evidence synthesis to explore a) what structural interventions have been evaluated for their effect on adolescent contraceptive use in low- and middle-income countries and b) how such interventions may work.
-
Sexuality Education During Covid-19: Exploring the potential of adapting the Dance4Life empowerment model to the digital environment.
Add To FavouritesSexuality Education During Covid-19: Exploring the potential of adapting the Dance4Life empowerment model to the digital environment.
This is a report on the process Rutgers International went through to adapt and prototype their Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) curriculum to a digital version during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
-
A360 Evaluation Findings Synthesis: No 1. How might we better meet the needs of adolescent couples with contraceptive counseling and services through Ethiopia’s Health Extension Program?
Add To FavouritesA360 Evaluation Findings Synthesis: No 1. How might we better meet the needs of adolescent couples with contraceptive counseling and services through Ethiopia’s Health Extension Program?
This publication is a summary of the process evaluation done by ITAD, for A360’s Smart Start project in Ethiopia. It highlights the methodology used for this process evaluation, and the key insights that were arrived at through action research with the users and a sounding workshop with the A360 team. The publication also provides direction and recommendations that are informed by the insights generated through the process evaluation of the Smart Start project. This is a great resource for implementers and evaluators who are seeking a methodology and some inspiration to evaluate their programs.