Human-centered design (HCD) emerged from the private sector and has been gaining traction in the social impact field for fostering new and lasting solutions. It integrates human perspectives in all steps of the problem-solving process. HCD helps to find solutions to issues that are ingrained in development work: the complexity of navigating and coordinating stakeholder ecosystems; the difficulty in changing end user behaviors; the barriers to scaling compelling solutions; and the challenge of appropriately measuring impact. It prioritizes a participatory, bottom-up process where end users and other stakeholders play a lead role in shaping solutions to meet their needs.
Dalberg Design uses HCD to actively engage end users, providers, and other constituencies throughout the development process, so that their needs and expectations inform the design of solutions. Our approach leads to increased engagement, and a higher likelihood of lasting impact. We apply HCD methods to stakeholders across the entire value chain – from agents to government officials – to support better decision-making and institutional change. Our expertise includes service and program design, product and business prototypes, innovation strategy and capacity building and design labs.
