We believe that by coming together as practitioners in the region, we can contribute and engage in the global conversation on design as contributors and collaborators.

Background

Designers have been working in the social impact space for a long time, leveraging a broad set of methodologies to deliver products, services, and interventions and facilitating collaboration. Many aspiring and experienced design practitioners across the continent are passionate about social impact and the transformational effect good design can have on communities. Conversations between more established partners uncovered a number of shared ambitions and opportunities. Our vision includes:

Exploring shared challenges and pathways within communities, delivering higher quality HCD work using an equity-centered design lens

Unlocking new types of funding; ways to invest in talent and bring in/support secondary players

Pushing for more equitable and impactful design processes and setting a benchmark of quality

Broadening/re-shaping definitions of social impact through design

Goals

The design world has benefitted from HCD toolkits developed by pioneer design firms such as IDEO. Design practitioners on the African continent have had to adapt these toolkits to meet the very specific contextual needs of the environments in which they work. This has given rise to the development of unique design, knowledge, and expertise. While much of this has been born out of a responsive nature, there are opportunities to galvanize contextually-relevant design innovation in a more intentional manner

1. Sharing our existing design research methodologies by:

Distinguishing different design approaches and applications
Publishing and sharing evolving design methodologies from the region
Keeping abreast of the most up-to-date design thinking practices

2. Collaborating on thought leadership by:

Pursuing joint engagements and initiatives
Consolidating strategic capabilities
Generating a knowledge base on design solutions unique to the region

3. Fostering a community of talent development through:

Attracting and engaging individual practitioners with specialized design talent
Bringing together specialized skills and overlaying them with design
Strengthening the professional identity of designers in East Africa

Values

Network Linkages

The coming together of a community will illuminate the various specializations of design practice in different capacities e.g research, innovation, and implementation.

Needs and gap identification

By sharing our experiences as a community we can jointly identify our individual and shared needs and use each others strengths to connect and fill gaps as needed.

Relationship building

Fostering opportunities to collaborate and upskill practitioners, as well as providing support and sharing learnings across the community.

Design showcasing

Fostering opportunities to collaborate and upskill practitioners, as well as providing support and sharing learnings across the community.

Home grown talent

The coming together of a community will illuminate the various specializations of design practice in different capacities e.g research, innovation, and implementation.

PARTNERS

Dalberg Design is the design and innovation practice at Dalberg. We believe in the power of human-centered design tools and methods to empower individuals and inspire innovative, results-oriented approaches.

Changing the world, one behavior at a time. We are a research and advisory firm dedicated to advancing and applying behavioral science in the Global South

IDEO.org is a nonprofit design studio.

We design products and services alongside organizations that are committed to creating a more just and inclusive world.

ThinkPlace is a strategic design consultancy with a global network. For 15+ years, we have been tackling some of the world’s most complex challenges using design-led, human-centred approaches.

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Be part of the conversation as practitioners in the region contribute and engage in africa's design initiatives

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