Design strategy and Co-creation are more critical than ever for NGOs.
Service Design offers an excellent approach to making sure that participation is possible. It gives everybody a voice to co-create solutions which have an impact because you create with all involved actors who have a role in an ecosystem.
Governments and politics are failing because of their incapacity to react proactively to the future demands of today’s society. Stable structures, habits and dependencies make it difficult to keep up with today’s speed of upcoming topics and to create real value for the people.
Innovation mostly comes from people and the private sector. Nevertheless, there are more governments than ever relying on service design as a tool to bring public services close to the needs of their people.
Where direct participation of people and service design is missing, NGOs take the opportunity to establish a link between people’s needs and governmental power.
What’s going on?
Life is changing. People have never been exposed to such a vast amount of new ways to do things, work, interact, communicate, travel, consume, etc.
If we are struggling to adapt, that means organisations are struggling too. We canāt rely anymore on a government that is in charge of securing our well-being and safety. They are just not prepared, and how can they be? Before, we were able to predict a lifelong future. Now it is even more painful to predict next year.
Service design
is an approach to creating services and products for people making their life more comfortable and helping them to get a sustainable and resilient life environment.
Peoples need for life-centred design
As our thinking moves from āmeā to āwe,ā the user-centred design feels increasingly selfish. Emphasis will need to switch toward a model for all life. It is not all about peopleās needs anymore. People are demanding not only to take care of our life; the planet and all beings need to be in balance with our needs.
NGOs have the possibility to articulate peopleās worries and give them a platform to express their real needs.
Closing the gap
Peopleās preferences are shifting. People take for granted essential government protection, but they demand more. Answers to upcoming questions and their solutions are often in the hands of NGOs. Thatās a good thing because they are closing the gap between peopleās needs and the entity that can legalize the needs or all.
How can NGOs guarantee to respect peopleās needs and not confuse them with their own goals? Service Design methodology helps to step aside and get an outside point of view.
Valuesāan anchor in tricky waters
Today more than ever, politics in many countries are failing, and some leaders act like autocrats, pushing people into a selfish and deal-oriented society. NGOs must independently demonstrate the value of human/life-centred action to tackle the problems of today and tomorrow.
In times of climate change, racism and inequality, it is crucial more than ever to have a clear position about what to stand for. Service Design can help to create solutions with a wide range of acceptance.
How are people doing?
Today, tackling the impact of the pandemic or climate change, there are a lot of front lines to attend to, and people are alone with their grief, fear and frustration about how life can change in such a short amount of time.
Multiple areas need attention. To adapt life to todayās situation and to give hope to everybody, NGOs need to begin working on co-created and consolidated solutions.
How to tackle these topics?
Respecting a human/life-centric approach in every sense is the key to building a stable relationship between you and your associates, funders, or employees.
Employing design methodology tools and a service design approach based on holistic research, co-creation and design thinking helps to understand the real problem, reframe the challenge, and look for solutions in multidisciplinary workgroups to get meaningful results.
Doing this permits taking concrete action for future problems and demands using funding for real opportunities to improve the work of the NGOs and to get a real return on investment for the world in which we live.
This is how you create solutions that are good for the world.
Human/life-centred design principles
With the Service Design methodology and strategy, we create services and products that are more efficient by making the optimum use of resources in a strictly human/life-centred approach.
Results
Service and products your customers will love because they need them.
Measurable indicators
#Revenue #Brand Reputation #Customer Retention.
Fieldwork & Insights research
With the Service Design methodology and strategy, we create services and products that are more efficient by making the optimum use of resources in a strictly human/life-centred approach.
Unbiased knowledge is the base for each creation or transformation. It helps to craft better products and services and increase client and employee engagement and advocacy.
Results
Verify the problem statement and obtain unbiased knowledge and holistic insights.
Measurable indicators
#Brand Reputation #Revenue #Return on Invested Funds #Internal Rate of Return on a Project #Speed to Market
Outside-in thinking
With the Service Design methodology and strategy, we create services and products that are more efficient by making the optimum use of resources in a strictly human/life-centred approach.
Empowering empathy by providing a different viewpoint helps people understand their own position to make better decisions and be better equipped.
Results
Improved customer experience and retention.
Measurable indicators
#Customer Retention #Customer Satisfaction, #Customer Advocacy (NPS) or Effort (CES )
Co-creation
Co-creation helps to obtain consolidated results by tackling complex problems with diverse points of view, knowledge and multidisciplinary teams.
Results
Empathy, consolidated results and team building.
Measurable indicators
#Resilient Solutions over Time #Employee advocacy #Engagement Score #Workplace Reputation.
Relevant service design project experience
- UNOPS – Design Research
- Fundament association (founder and president)
Letās talk about how service design could help your NGO.
Iām glad you made it this far. That seems to be a good sign;
perhaps I can be of use to you.
I can help you with something if you want to know more.
Frank Hoeft ā designSTRTGY
Or write me a message here…
Phone +34 677 22 95 75 (WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal)