Human-Centered Design

 

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. HCD prioritizes a participatory, bottom-up process where end users and other stakeholders play a lead role in shaping solutions to meet their needs. 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.

 



Kristen Schlott

Kristen Schlott is a Creative Lead at Dalberg Design in Nairobi. She has worked for nonprofit, for-profit, and multilateral clients to bring human-centered design to the international development field in sectors such as agriculture, finance, and youth unemployment. As an early hire, she has made significant contributions to the growth of Dalberg Design’s Nairobi-based practice; sourcing talent and developing internal initiatives to explore new applications of human-centered design in local markets. 
 

New Public Data Set and Tool For Improving Financial Health in India Launched

Aspiring Indians I is the India chapter of The Human Account, a robust, holistic resource with data and insights covering six countries in Asia and Africa. Using a nationally representative sample, Aspiring Indians surveyed 3,300 respondents in 16 states in India to come up with critical insights, six key consumer segments and further developed six prototype financial products that meet the needs of the consumers of each segment.

7 Design Principles to Create Financial Products for Low-income Consumers

Design principles are guidelines that specify the end user experience for a product. The seven principles in this set are illustrated to help deliver a financial product that meets low-income consumers where they are, and where they want to be.

 

7 design principle

 

How Development Impact Bonds work, and when to use them

Development Impact Bonds (DIBs) are a relatively new results-based financing instrument being piloted as a new way of financing innovative activities. Dalberg designs, manages and evaluates DIBs, such as the Educate Girls DIB, and many others across the globe.



Pragya Mishra

Pragya Mishra is a Creative Lead at Dalberg Design based in Seattle. She applies her expertise in visual and strategy design on social innovation, financial inclusion and global health projects. She brings a human-centered approach to her work that facilitates in-depth understanding of distinct user behaviors, attitudes and preferences towards products, services, and systems leading to actionable insights.

Dalberg to host State of Aadhaar Initiative 


We are excited to announce that Dalberg is hosting the State of Aadhaar initiative for 2019 and 2020. Sponsored by Omidyar Network, the initiative aims to build a shared understanding of India’s national digital ID system, Aadhaar. 



Michael Mori

Michael is the Director of the financial services practice at Dalberg Design, based in New York. He supports businesses, governments, and non-profits to reach underserved markets through human-centered product and service design, as well as evidence-based policy reform, leveraging a range of qualitative and quantitative research and analysis methodologies.

The Missing Middles: Segmenting Enterprises to Better Understand Their Financial Needs

Small and growing businesses (SGBs) contribute to significant positive impact in emerging economies, but they struggle to access the capital they need to reach their full potential. According to the IFC, SGBs in emerging markets face a $930 billion financing gap. Many are stuck squarely in the “missing middle”: they are too big for microfinance, too small or risky for traditional bank lending, and lack the growth, return, and exit potential sought by venture capitalists. 



Priti Rao

Priti Rao is the Asia Director for Dalberg Design. Her expertise lies in helping organisations become purpose-led, and build a culture of innovation to solve complex global challenges. She works closely with teams and clients to combine data with field insights and bring a human-centred focus to civic design, financial inclusion, technology, and policy challenges.
 



Trevor Zimmer

Trevor Zimmer is a Director at Dalberg Design where he leads project engagements with public and private sector clients to apply design as a facilitative process and skillset. He believes design better enables teams and organizations to collaborate across disciplines, align interests, contribute to organizational learnings, and identify solutions. His focus is on global health, change management, and new ventures.
 

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