A New Framework for HCD in Adolescent SRH Programming

Project:
HCD Exchange Quality & Standards Working Group

Location:
Virtual

Funders:
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation

Partners:
HCD Exchange

Category:
Sexual & Reproductive Health

Challenge

Practitioners applying human-centered design (HCD) on adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) are forging a new path of solution development for young people by combining two distinct sectors that work at the nexus of design, public health, and innovation. Given the relative nascency of this practice, there is a lack of robust evidence to determine what are quality approaches to design and implementation in order to achieve desired ASRH outcomes. As the evidence base in this sector continues to build, there is an opportunity to leverage best practices related to ASRH, design, and youth engagement to guide in the creation of quality standards when applying HCD to ASRH interventions.

Innovation

The Quality and Standards Framework has been developed through a strong youth and community-driven approach chaired by YLabs and in partnership with HCDExchange.

In early 2021, we initiated a scoping study to understand emerging best practices and opened a call for applications to the Quality & Standards Working Group (QSWG) through the HCDExchange Community of Practice. Then we determined 10 members for the working group with diverse representation across geography, age, and sector.

The Working Group held a two-day virtual convening in July 2021 with the HCDExchange Secretariat to align on the information gathered and start crafting principles. Over the next five months, the group drafted the framework, solicited feedback from community members, and created the finalized version you can download today.

On January 20, 2022, the framework was officially launched during a Zoom presentation with HCDExchange.

Next Steps

The framework presented here, developed in partnership with the HCDExchange Community of Practice, draws upon best practices to deliver eight principles with corresponding tips and resources. As a whole, the framework is intended to guide the safe, effective, and inclusive practice of HCD to ASRH programming. Although these principles were developed for the application of HCD on ASRH interventions, they also have relevancy to broader global health programming.

We recognize that organizations may have different names for each phase of the design process, but share a common set of activities (see the DesignforHealth guide for more information). The tips presented here map to those activities. This framework should be treated as an adaptable resource based on the needs of different audiences (i.e., implementers, designers, young people, and evaluators).