Posttest: HCD Nutrition
Thank you for completing the course Applying Human-Centered Design to Improve Nutrition Programming. Below you will find the final assessment. Click the “Posttest” link to get started.
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Refine, Evaluate & Adapt Solutions to Different Contexts
Learning Objectives
After completing this session, you will be able to:
Where are we in the process?
Refine, Evaluate & Adapt
In the spirit of continuous improvement, the process of refining and evaluating can continue indefinitely as innovations scale across different contexts. Whether testing, piloting, or evaluating a solution in a new context or setting, some degree of adaptation is usually necessary – this holds true regardless of whether the solution was originally generated using HCD or not.
Who is involved?
Key local stakeholders and potential users of the adapted solution in the new context – similar to who would be involved in co-design (see Session 5).
Starting the Adaptation Process
Step 1. Decide as a team
Whether you are bringing the new HCD-generated solution or a pre-existing solution to your context, the starting point is the same:
- You must have a thorough and shared understanding of the problem you are trying to solve.
- You must work as a team with key stakeholders and potential users to adapt the solution.
Nigeria Case Study
In Nigeria our adaptation was adjacent, since we intended to adapt the chosen solution to a different health area, in a different country, and we understood that there was a need for a change of format.
Inovation
Although modifying something that already exists may not seem innovative or exciting, these types of adaptations are precisely what drive innovation! Innovation is often thought of as being entirely brand new and disruptive, or what is known as transformational innovation. However, there are multiple forms of innovation:
Incremental innovation
- Typically involves bringing a solution to a broader audience, often with little adaptation. For example, expanding a tool that was designed to achieve a specific purpose among a specific audience to reach more of that same intended audience.
Adjacent innovation
- Typically involves adapting an existing solution to a new audience or for a slightly different purpose. For example, Empathways, which was originally designed for providers and young people to build empathy during family planning consultations, was adapted for use in Nigeria between CHWs and caregivers to build empathy around complementary feeding. The goal and mechanism to build empathy is the same, but the audience and content are different. Adjacent innovation is a great starting point, especially for teams that are time constrained. Later in this session we will explore quick ways to innovate using the Adaptation Canvas. We will explore this type of innovation through adaptation.
Step 2. Scan for solutions that solve a similar problem
When the time came for the Breakthrough ACTION Nigeria team to ideate, the team decided that in addition to ideating afresh, they would also consider existing solutions to see if anything could be adapted. Given this decision, the team looked within the Breakthrough ACTION portfolio of solutions and found inspiration in Empathways, a tool designed to build empathy between two groups of people in a 1:1 setting.
Empathways in Nigeria
Empathways Challenge
The challenge
Lack of empathetic care from health providers is a well-known issue. Empathways was an innovation created by Breakthrough ACTION, to address this problem.
What is it?
Empathways is a card activity designed to take youth clientele and their family planning service providers on a dynamic, engaging journey from awareness, to empathy, to action. The objective is to forge greater empathy between these groups, and then for providers to apply this empathy to improve youth family planning service delivery (Breakthrough ACTION, n.d.).
Nigeria Challenge
The challenge
The research revealed that there is a lack of compassion and empathy when CHWs provide counseling sessions and in-home consultations. Therefore, the team decided to focus on innovating to elicit more empathetic behaviors from CHWs and more cooperative behaviors from caregivers.
What is it?
Empathways was identified as a possible solution because it addresses the same core challenge: lack of empathy. Once this decision was made and an existing solution was identified for adaptation, the team worked through a series of questions, which have been consolidated and refined in the form of the Adaptation Canvas.
Step 3. Complete the Adaptation Canvas
Adaption Canvas
Inspired by the Business Model Canvas, the Adaptation Canvas is a one-page framework intended to help nutrition and SBC practitioners think through what changes might need to be made when adapting a solution.
1. Key Actors
Who are the key actors (target audience, influencers, systems, organizations, institutions, etc.) in the original concept? Are they the same or different in the new context? Do they play similar or different roles? (e.g., grandmothers existing in both settings but play different roles).
Tip: Map out the key actors and their relationships across the socio-ecological model.
2. Setting & Environment
Review existing data or evidence from the country or context you are adapting to. What stands out? Consider changes in setting in the new context. Is it urban or rural? What is the socioeconomic profile of the target population?
3. Key Resources & Costs
What are the key resources needed for the original concept? Are they also needed in the new context?
Tip: Consider the five S’s: “staff, stuff,
space. systems, and social support” (Zhang, 2021). Are the following resources the same or different in this new context? What are the associated costs?
- Human resources
- Materials and supplies
- Physical space needs
- System(s) access, integration or
institutional buy-in - Social supports (i.e., transportation and meal vouchers)
4. Value Proposition & TOC
What change are you trying to make by
adapting this concept? Does the Theory of
Change (TOC) still hold true?
Tip: Conduct this fill in the blank exercise:
“If we [NAME OF ACTIVITY] with [TARGET AUDIENCE] then [DESIRED RESULT].
5. Constraints
What constraints are present in the new
context that may need to be factored
into the adaptation?
Tip: Consider these factors but do not
limit yourself to them.
6. Proposed Changes
Given the previous steps, what key
changes do you propose making to the
concept?
Tip: List the changes and prioritize them
using an importance/ difficulty matrix or
another matrix of your choosing. For
example, translation would be “important” and “not difficult”, whereas adapting a digital video so that the characters more closely resemble the local population would be “difficult.” The importance may be unknown but can potentially be validated during testing!“
7. Validation & Refinement
Which of the changes need to be validated? How will you know if the
changes are “successful?” With whom do you need to validate and how will you do that?
Tip: Focus on assessing desirability and
feasibility.
Each component of the canvas includes probing questions and tips to help think through possible adaptations. You may find that you do not need to fill out each component, and that is ok. Each solution, adaptation and context is unique.
Aim to complete the first draft of the canvas relatively quickly (within an hour). If you complete it alone, share it with other key stakeholders to get their input. Or if you have the opportunity to fill this out as a team, then conduct individual brainstorming for each section, share back, and build off of each person’s input.
Here is an example of how the Nourishing Connections Team utilized the Adaptation Canvas.
Step 4. Build your adapted prototype
Now that the specific changes have been identified, it is time to turn them into a prototype. Refer to Session 5, Prototype & Test for specific guidance about building a prototype.
| Component | Original Empathways | Adapted Empathways for Nourishing Connections in Nigeria |
| Topic | Original Empathways | Adapted Empathways |
| Rounds or categories of cards | Open upAwarenessUnderstandEmpathyCompassionAction | AwarenessUnderstandEmpathyCompassion The other categories were left out because Nourishing Connections have other activities that are responsible for building this piece of the relationship. |
| Audience | Family planning providers and young people | CHWs and caregivers of 6-24 month-old children |
| Format | Card deck | One page handout with 5 questions |
| Method | One-on-one interaction | One-on-one interaction |
| How to use it | To be used in training sessions | To be used during counseling sessions |
| Uniqueness | First application in a safe space/training setting. | “Share Just Enough” concept: CHWs should share with caregivers just enough and not expose themselves. |
Download the Empathways for Nutrition prototype (PDF) that was tested in Nigeria. See Session 5 for more details on testing the prototype in Nigeria.
Key Tips for Adaptation
Step 5. Finalize the concept
Once the testing concluded and the results were synthesized, a version of Empathways for Nutrition was finalized for the Nigerian context, which includes a one-page tool composed of five questions divided into sections between relationship building and emotional state of the mother. The final Empathways for Nutrition tool was integrated with other activities of the Nourishing Connections package, thus making the tool an element of something bigger. You can find Empathways for Nutrition on pages 3 and 4 of the CHW Job Aid.
Why the final version was consolidated
- Due to the intended group (CHW) strengths and weaknesses: Most CHW in Nigeria have a low level of literacy, so they usually memorize content. Therefore, memorizing 50 cards wouldn’t work. For this reason, we need to work with what is essential to make it possible for them.
- The original Empathway was made for a training context while the Nigeria version for a counseling session. It was necessary to concise it to the reality of a 30min counseling session.
- In Nigeria culture people are talkative, for this reason they just needed a starting point to set up an empathetic conversation and space to make the magic happen.
- Feasibility: printing thousands of card decks was not financially feasible, so by making it one page, the feasibility was possible for the implementing partners.
- Target group CHW – most are not literate so they had to memorize the questions. So reading cards wouldn’t work.
- Nigeria is a very open country, they just needed something to start the conversation.
- Feasibility: printing thousands of card decks was not financially feasible, so by making it one page, the feasibility was possible.
Prototype
Learning Objectives
After completing this session, you will be able to:
Where are we in the process?
Devise II
To reach the second part of the Devise phase, you should have 4-6 concepts ready to be developed into prototypes which will then be tested with users.
Who is involved?
At this stage, you should involve the Core Design Team and the testing audience/users (people you will test with).
Prototyping
What is it? Why do we do it?
A prototype is an experimental model of an idea. It is a way to give our ideas a presence that we can put in front of someone else to see if our idea adds value.
Recall from Session 1 that HCD helps us arrive at solutions that are desirable, feasible, and scalable. Prototyping is the specific practice that helps us build, test, and iterate solutions that meet those three criteria. Flip each card to learn more about each criteria.
Desirability
Is it likely to lead to uptake from the target group?
Feasibility
How can it be effectively and efficiently operationalized?
Scalability
How can we ensure that it is easily replicable?
How many end users can our solution reach?
What can prototypes look like?
Prototyping is about bringing ideas to life quickly. It allows us to experiment with our ideas and concepts, and to test, learn, and improve them in a low-cost, low-risk way. When thinking about how to create a prototype, ask yourself “How can I get people to interact with my concept as quickly as possible?”
Prototypes can take many different forms, so the following is not an exhaustive list. Nonetheless, explore each option to learn what prototype might best meet the design need.
Creating a physical product?
Physical models
Try creating one with cheap materials first.
Creating a new process or experience?
Role play
Make a script that users can act out to test the experience you’re trying to create…
Storyboard
…or draw it out through a storyboard.
Creating a digital product?
Sketches and paper prototypes
Use sketches to display a mock-up of your concept.
Designing an event, experience, or new space?
Physical spaces
Make a mock-up of your space that reflects the flow, orientation, and spacing.
How do I build a prototype?
Before building your prototype, work with your Core Design Team to fill out the Prototype Canvas. Doing so helps clarify key aspects of your concept, including what it is supposed to do, what assumptions you are testing, what it will look like, etc. It is best to complete these in small groups.
In general, prototypes should be made quickly and relatively cheaply using readily available materials. Think about a craft project you did in primary school. What materials did you use? Those are the types of materials you want to use here. Examples are paper, cardboard boxes, fabric, markers, tape, empty water bottles, poster board, magazines, clay… You get the idea. Think: what is readily available? What is inexpensive?
What is the prototyping process?
The general process is as follows: create, validate, iterate, and revalidate. Flip each card to see a definition.
Create
Make a prototype from the idea or concept.
Validate
Test and seek feedback from users to validate whether they think it will work.
Iterate
Refine and adapt the prototype based on user feedback, changing and replacing items that do not work.
Revalidate
Did changes lead to the desired results? Is it easy to use? Can it work in different contexts?
What level of complexity is needed?
The prototyping process can be repeated within the same or across different levels of complexity, or level of fidelity. The fidelity of a prototype refers to its level of completeness, detail, and different testing phases. The degree of completeness of the prototypes depends on the stages of fidelity, which are low, medium, and high. Flip each card to learn more.
Low fidelity prototype
Low cost, rough, and quick to build
Medium fidelity prototype
Slightly more detailed, still rough but closer to the solution
High fidelity prototype
Much closer to final, very detailed, and much more time-consuming
As you can imagine, prototypes look different for every project, so do not expect your prototypes to look exactly like these examples. The important thing is that they are tangible and allow users to interact with them.
Depending on your project, you may be able to conduct multiple rounds of testing at different stages of fidelity.
Nigeria Case Study
Nourishing Connections
Prototypes in Action
In Nigeria, eight prototypes were developed to address the six challenges identified during the formative research stage. (Links to each Nourishing Connections prototype are available under the Materials tab at the top of this lesson.) Click each challenge to reveal the prototype(s) used to address them.
Challenge 1: Lack of compassionate care in counseling sessions
Prototype 1
Your Own Adventure is a prototype inspired by the Choose Your Own Adventure style stories and games. In this version, the clients select options that best represent their past experiences so that at the end of the game, the community health worker can determine at which stage of behavior change the client is: the knowledge, attitude, or practice stage.
Prototype 2
Empathways takes CHWs and users on a journey from thinking about their own experiences and needs, to understanding users’ real needs. The solution is a card deck composed of 4 categories of QUESTIONS and TACTICS.
Challenge 2: Diet diversity
Prototype
Meal planner game is a card game that educates players about 4-star meals. Each card has a picture of locally available food from one of the categories with an icon identifying which category it belongs to. The game’s objective is for players to create 4-star meals for complementary feeding out of the playing cards by combining a card from each of the four categories of foods that are available to them.
Challenge 3: Uncertainty and fear of harming the child
Prototype
The Trivia Game is a question & answer game similar to the Trivial Pursuit board game. The questions relate to facts and myths about nutrition, as well as facilitators that support or inhibit dietary diversity and complementary feelings.
Challenge 4: Previous experiences with child feeding
Prototype
Assumptions Busting is a simplified counseling session guide that makes the counseling process more empathetic and efficient in identifying the real causes of certain behaviors.
Challenge 5: Affordability and accessibility
Prototype
Price comparison is a visual table used by the CHWs to compare the price of healthy foods with the price of other things, and the preparation time of healthy meals versus meals not recommended.
Challenge 6: Food preparation self-efficacy
Prototype 1
Tips & Tricks Booklet is a fully visual recipe book containing three healthy Nigerian recipes using low cost largely locally available foods to most and 4-star meals to encourage nutritious complementary feeding.
Prototype 2
Weekly meal planner is a family meal planner that considers what the family has available. This tool has a section dedicated especially to complementary feeding for infants and young children and another for the rest of the family.
Session 6 Recap & Knowledge Check
Key Takeaways
Refine, Evaluate & Adapt
Check Your Understanding
Thank you for completing the sixth session of Applying Human-Centered Design to Improve Nutrition Programming. Next is an ungraded quiz to test your understanding of Session 6.
Click the Knowledge Check button to get started.
Session 5 Recap & Knowledge Check
Key Takeaways
Prototype & Test
Check Your Understanding
Thank you for completing the fifth session of Applying Human-Centered Design to Improve Nutrition Programming. Next is an ungraded quiz to test your understanding of Session 5.
Click the Knowledge Check button to get started.
Session 4 Recap & Knowledge Check
Key Takeaways
Co-design & Ideation
- Diverge: Initial rapid ideation
- Diverge: Mix and merge
- Converge: Prioritize
Check Your Understanding
Thank you for completing the fourth session of Applying Human-Centered Design to Improve Nutrition Programming. Next is an ungraded quiz to test your understanding of Session 4.
Click the Knowledge Check button to get started.
Co-design & Ideation
Learning Objectives
After completing this session, you will be able to:
Where are we in the process?
What is next?
You have completed the first diamond in the double diamond framework – congratulations! Now, it is time to practice some more divergent thinking as we begin the first part of the Devise phase, which includes co-design and ideation.
Who is involved?
At this stage, you should involve the Core Design Team and additional stakeholders related to your insights and How Might We questions.
What is co-design?
As mentioned in Session 1, co-design is an approach to design that actively engages multiple and diverse perspectives in the design process to ensure that the end result meets user needs. It is about convening these perspectives to build something that is truly desirable, feasible, and scalable to key stakeholders.
Typically, an engineer, a product manager, or business owner might work on a product or idea, for long periods of time, before bringing it to users. If the product flops once it is launched, it is usually too late, too tiring, or too expensive to make changes, and the solution dies.
Co-design aims to prevent this from happening by designing solutions with users and other key stakeholders, and by balancing all perspectives. Although the user voice is central, it must be balanced with the know-how of the other voices in the Core Design Team. Only together they can arrive at a solution that is desirable, feasible, and scalable.
Co-design in Action
Nourishing Connections Case Study
The first step is to identify the key stakeholders which should be involved. The following stakeholders were involved in co-design for the Nourishing Connections project:
- Mothers
- Fathers
- Caregivers
- Community leaders
- Implementing partners
- Core Design Team
Once your co-designers have been identified, it is time to bring them together for ideation.
Ideation
What is an idea?
“Ideas are initial thoughts. They lack detail. They do not need to be reasonable or achievable. They must break the sound barrier of reason.”
– ThinkPlace Global Institute of Regenerative Design & Terry, 2022
What is ideation?
Ideation is the process of generating new ideas. It is all about rapid, divergent thinking that is anchored in the research insights.
The key to ideation is to aim for quantity over quality or feasibility, and being open to everyone’s ideas– regardless of their positions. There are no discussions around the quality or feasibility of an idea, there are only further suggestions.”
– Breakthrough ACTION, n.d.
How do we ideate?
Who is involved?
- The Core Design Team
- Your intended users
- Any other key stakeholders including for example, representatives from the Ministry of Health who could not commit to being a Core Design Team member, but bring technical experience and an understanding of the challenge
An ideal number is between 20-25 participants, who can then break into 4-5 groups of 4-5 people.
What you will need
- Post-its or small pieces of paper that can be placed in clear view among small groups
- Markers or pens
- A wall or flip-chart paper to place post-its on
- Tables and chairs to accommodate small groups
- One Insight/How Might We worksheet per small group (from Session 3)
The Process
The ideation process follows the general divergence and convergence pattern:
- Diverge: Initial rapid ideation
- Diverge: Mix and merge ideas
- Converge: Prioritize
Click each step to learn more
Step 1: Rapid ideation
Step 1
This step is anchored in the Insight/HMW worksheets from Session 3.
- Separate into smaller groups – aim to have representatives of different voices in the same group and begin quick fire brainstorming.
- Teams have discussions and contribute ideas. It is advised for each individual to write their idea on a small piece of paper and place it in clear view for the other participants. This way, participants become inspired by the increasing number of ideas and themes in front of them.
- Try to write only one idea per post-it, and aim to generate as many ideas as possible! This can be done initially as an individual activity in silence for 5-10 minutes. After individual brainstorming, share back within small groups and place each paper in full view of the rest of the group.
Rapid Ideation Tips
- Quantity is more important than quality or detail right now. Encourage friendly competition between small groups!
- Do not dampen wild ideas – encourage them!
- Draw your ideas, use short sentences, just make them as clear and simple as possible.
- Do not negatively judge or dismiss ideas early on.
- Try to have one conversation at a time.
- Do not discuss too many details of any one idea; opt for breadth of ideas over depth.
- Take some risks – build on what is there and explore new territory.
- Go fast! Keep it fast paced to avoid overthinking.
Step 2: Mix and merge
Step 2
Now that you have a high quantity of individual ideas, start clustering them, still within small groups. Are there similar ideas? Group them together and give them a name. Are there certain groups that could be combined to create a “mega” idea? Draw links between them. This step is a chance to expand upon and add more details to the initial ideation round.
(Image credit: Yagazie Emezi/Getty Images/Images of Empowerment)
Step 3: Prioritize
Step 3
With your ideas a bit more formed, it is time to prioritize them since they cannot all be developed. A favorite way to prioritize ideas is to use a simple importance/difficulty matrix, or effort/impact matrix.
- Money pit: low effort and low impact
- Incremental: high effort and low impact
- Easy wins: low effort and high impact
- Big bets: high effort and high impact
At the end of ideation, you should have at least 2 strong ideas per small groups that are ready to be developed into concepts. See the examples below from the Nourishing Connections Project.
Nigeria Case Study
Nourishing Connections
Ideation in Action
The Nourishing Connections team worked through the 3 steps of ideation. What began as 50 different ideas ultimately became 8 ideas prioritized as the team progressed from Rapid Ideation to Mix & Merge to Prioritize.
| How Might We statements → | Rapid Ideation → | Mix & Merge → | Prioritize |
| 1. How might we promote awareness around locally available and inexpensive healthy food options while positioning locally available foods as higher value and more desirable and appropriate for young children? 2. How might we improve food preparation and transformation capacity in mothers and caregivers to facilitate safe, nutritious, and digestible meals for children 6 to 24 months? 3. How might we strategically alleviate the cost, time, and energy burden placed on mothers and caregivers to prepare nutritious meals for their children 6 to 24 months in addition to their other household and community responsibilities? | ~50 ideas! | Idea 1 – Local food cultivation, purchasing, and preparation training for CHWs Idea 2 – Cooking experience group sharing Idea 3 – Active sensitizing towards men to support mothers & caregivers Idea 4 – Community drama displaying benefits of well nourished children Idea 5 – Influencer leveraging Idea 6 – Cooking demonstration and advice through radio and community dramas Idea 7 – Community town hall sensitization Idea 8 – Entertainment activities for the community Idea 9 – Game for community meetings Idea 10 – Tools for community health workers Idea 11 – Activity to prompt empathy between caregivers and community health workers | Idea 1 – A set of questions to help community health workers to understand caregivers’ current state Idea 2 – A tool/activity to prompt empathy Idea 3 – A game that works as a cook demonstration and increase families knowledge Idea 4 – A questions and answers game Idea 5 – A counseling session optimized guide, faster, better, helpful and empathetic Idea 6 – Price comparison tool Idea 7 – Tips and tricks booklet Idea 8 – Weekly meal planner |
Turning Ideas into Concepts
What is a concept?
A concept is a more fully formed idea or mash-up of ideas. It goes beyond any individual idea and is a thinking step where designers aim to frame a more holistic solution (ThinkPlace Global Institute of Regenerative Design & Terry, 2022). It contains more details that help answer key “who, what, when, where, why, how” questions.
Why and how to build concepts
Flip each card to learn about the benefits of building a concept.
Clarity and Focus
Refine and narrow down your ideas, providing clarity and focus.
Assess Feasibility
Assess various factors such as demand, technical feasibility, resource requirements, and potential challenges.
Enhance Differentiation
Refine and tailor to users needs, incorporating innovative features, approaches, and value proposition.
Guidance for building a concept
- Establish small groups that are interested in developing the idea into a more detailed concept. These can be, but are not limited to, the same small groups used during ideation.
- Explore the concept and build up the features. Use the Concept Canvas as a guide. You do not have to limit yourself to these questions, but at a minimum they should be answerable at this stage.
Nigeria Case Study
Nourishing Connections
Concepts in Action
Review three examples of concepts from the Nourishing Connections case study.
Concept 1: Choose your own adventure
Hypothesis
Helping CHWs understand caregivers’ current state helps them provide personalized, relevant guidance more efficiently and effectively.
Describe your concept in detail
What are the objectives of this idea? How will this idea work in detail?
Inspired by “choose your own adventure” style games, in this version clients will select options that best represent their past experiences so that at the end of the game, their current state will be determined. The past experiences will be divided into 3 categories:
- Knowledge
- Attitude
- Practice
This game will have a version for mothers/caregivers and influencers.
What problem does this concept solve? For whom?
This concept aims to address the lack of empathetic care during counseling sessions.
Where will this take place? What is the setting?
During household visits or at a health facility.
Does something like this already exist? If so, how is this different?
Nothing like this exists in Nigeria to our knowledge.
Who needs to be involved and what are their roles and responsibilities?
Supervisors need to learn how to use the tool and orient CHWs to the tool.
CHWs need to learn how to use the tool during their counseling sessions.
Concept 2: Nutrition Card Game
Hypothesis
The fictional practice of diversified eating, copying the decision making process and constraints of everyday life, will lead to a better understanding and change of attitude.
Describe your concept in detail
What are the objectives of this idea? How will this idea work in detail?
This is a card game that educates players about 4-star meals. Each card has a picture of locally available food from one of the categories with an icon identifying the category . The game’s objective is for players to create 4-star meals for complementary feeding out of the playing cards by combining a card from each of the four categories.
What problem does this concept solve? For whom?
This concept aims to address the lack of knowledge among caregivers about diverse diets, the lack of mental space to test new recipes, and the different roles key family members can play in complementary feeding for children aged 6-24 months.
Where will this take place? What is the setting?
This game can be played during our outside of CHW-led counseling sessions.
Does something like this already exist? If so, how is this different?
There is a similar game, but it does not add complexities such as real characters, bigger spaces for mistakes that provoke reflection and force different decision making, thus driving attitude change. So, it is not able to imitate real life.
Who needs to be involved and what are their roles and responsibilities?
Supervisors need to learn how to use the tool and orient CHWs to the tool.
CHWs need to learn how to use the tool during their counseling sessions.
Concept 3: Assumption busting
Hypothesis
Streamlining the counseling protocol to focus on understanding the specific situation will help the CHWs counsel caregivers more efficiently and effectively.
Describe your concept in detail
What are the objectives of this idea? How will this idea work in detail?
Simplifying the session protocol to make the session more empathetic and more effective in identifying the root causes of certain behaviors.
The CHW should always begin with a statement about past experiences, myths or common challenges. The mother will respond and the CHW will ask WHYs at least 3 times until the root cause is understood.
What problem does this concept solve? For whom?
This concept aims to help CHWs:
- understand caregivers’ past experiences with complementary feeding
- Understand the conditions under which caregivers attempt to follow recommendations
- gather relevant inputs to provide a feasible and effective recommendation
Where will this take place? What is the setting?
During household visits
Does something like this already exist? If so, how is this different?
Nothing like this exists in Nigeria to our knowledge.
Who needs to be involved and what are their roles and responsibilities?
Supervisors need to learn how to use the tool and orient CHWs to the tool.
CHWs need to learn how to use the tool during their counseling sessions.
Session 3 Recap & Knowledge Check
Key Takeaways
Insights & Identifying Design Opportunities
Check Your Understanding
Thank you for completing the third session of Applying Human-Centered Design to Improve Nutrition Programming. Next is an ungraded quiz to test your understanding of Session 3.
Click the Knowledge Check button to get started.
Identifying Design Opportunities
How Might We…
Turning insights into opportunity spaces
You may be thinking, “but we started the entire design process with a HMW question!” That may be true, but that HMW question was likely a broad question that was formulated prior to conducting research and formulating insights. Now is the time to formulate a more specific HMW question that links your research-informed insights to clear and actionable opportunity spaces. In doing so, teams and stakeholders are better able to imagine how the insights might be addressed without converging too quickly or without making decisions based on biases and assumptions, rather than on the insights themselves.
How Might We Basics
There is no prescriptive formula for the perfect How Might We question. Below are a few guiding tips to help you and your team turn your insights into HMWs:
Once the HMWs have been generated, select those that resonate most with your users and your Core Design Team. You can use these HMWs, based on your insights, as your guides as you develop potential prototypes.
Consider using the following template to help you write your HMWs:
HMW Template
How might we ______________ [ACTION / WHAT] for _____________ [INTENDED AUDIENCE] ______________ in order to ______________ [DESIRED CHANGE]?
Nigeria Case Study
Nourishing Connections
Putting How Might We (HMW) into Practice
Insights translate into HMW statements
Directing towards accessible foods
How might we…promote awareness around locally available and inexpensive healthy food options while positioning locally available foods as higher value and more desirable and appropriate for young children?
Food preparation confidence
How might we…improve food preparation and transformation capacity in mothers and caregivers to facilitate safe, nutritious, and digestible meals for children 6 to 24 months?
Reducing burden on mothers
How might we…strategically alleviate the cost, time, and energy burden placed on mothers and caregivers to prepare nutritious meals for their children 6 to 24 months in addition to their other household and community responsibilities?
Learn More
Consider using the Actionable Insights (Template) to help you consolidate your linked insight(s) and HMW question into a single document.
