Publication: How youth-centered design is being used to create CyberRwanda
Our recently published paper in BMC Public Health describes how youth-centered design was used to develop CyberRwanda
Digital approaches offer an emerging opportunity to reach billions of young people around the world. When it comes to access to reproductive health and family planning services, meeting young people on their phones can provide a way to deliver the answers to the questions they have about preventing pregnancy and HIV. Yet despite the emergence of digital health interventions designed for young people, the design and global health fields lack the robust evaluation and evidence to demonstrate impact and document this approach.
Until now.
CyberRwanda is a digital platform that aims to improve the health and livelihoods of urban and peri-urban adolescents (12-19 years) by supporting them at every step of their healthcare journey, and our recently published paper in BMC Public Health describes how youth-centered design was used to develop the project. The paper also elaborates on the study protocol for our upcoming randomized control trial (RCT).
If you are using human-centered design to design digital products for social impact - this paper is for you! This publication is especially relevant for the design field because it documents the iterative process of design research, from authentic youth engagement during design research to the key findings from multiple rounds of prototyping that helped turn CyberRwanda into what it is today.
And this is just the beginning!
In partnership with the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, the Rwanda Biomedical Center, the University of Rwanda, and the Society for Family Health - Rwanda, we will be documenting and sharing our process and findings over the next year. Stay tuned to find out more!
In partnership with the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Rwanda, and the Society for Family Health - Rwanda, we are currently running one of the first RCTs evaluating an HCD digital behavior change product in sub-Saharan Africa.
Stay tuned to find out more!
