Our first meetup! What makes design for international development & aid unique?

Welcome to Human Centered Design for Development (HCD4D)! We are a group of tech designers in the international aid and development sector, and we created this group to build a community of design practitioners and aspiring design practitioners in our sector. For our first official meetup we will spend time getting to know each other and network, we will also discuss the topic:

What makes design work for international development and aid unique?

It’s no secret that success in international development depends on a deep understanding of the dynamics of a problem, nuanced knowledge of its context, and the ability to empathize with the people it affects. For ICT4D practitioners, tech sector practices such as human-centered design (HCD) have provided a useful methodology for doing just that. However, practicing HCD for international development projects is distinct from HCD for traditional US-based, private-sector clients in many ways; for starters, design in development contexts crosses languages, time zones, and cultures. Join the HCD4D crew for a discussion on how these factors affect the HCD process, and to discuss the following questions:

• What is different about HCD in the context of an international development project?
• Why and when is HCD most effective for international ICT4D projects?
• How can practitioners make the case to decision-makers that HCD is worth the additional investment?
• Which practices and approaches to user research and design are most effective in aid projects?
• How to leverage the local tech and innovation scene to super charge your design process?
• How can you get into the HCD4D field?

Join us on Sept 25th at Dupont Wework (Location may be updated - stay tuned) for this first HCD4D group meetup!