Identifying and developing new solutions to improve global health is core to InSTEDD’s mission. In partnership with Rockefeller Foundation and others around the world, InSTEDD and its iLab Southeast Asia (iLabSEA) are participating in an initiative to utilize prototyping methodologies to discover novel approaches to addressing the health needs of informal workers (IWs) globally. There are approximately 1.8 billion informal workers worldwide, which represents 60% of the global workforce. This group also makes up a large population in Asia, especially in the iLab SEA’s home context of Cambodia, a country where informal workers represent over 90% of the non agricultural workforce.
In support of the Rockefeller led effort, the InSTEDD iLab SEA team is combining its existing health networks, informal worker relationships, and assets in country with extensive experience in human centered design to lead a collaborative design process which will prototype at least one innovative intervention targeting the needs of urban Informal Workers. Through a series of blog posts, the InSTEDD team will take readers through the journey of the iLab’s innovation design and development process.
Though InSTEDD has been working on a number of health solutions globally, the iLab SEA team had never looked specifically at the health situation of informal workers. For this reason, our first step was to acquaint ourselves with informal workers’ characteristics. We started by getting our heads around the global outlook on the issue, benefitting from excellent research conducted by partners in the Rockefeller initiative WIEGO, APHRC and IDEO.org.
Strong human-centered design requires target beneficiaries inputs from the very start. Because the focus of the innovation solution is for the informal workers themselves, we had to go hear from them directly. So as we continued with more Cambodia specific research, the iLab team met informal workers face-to-face and listened to what they had to say. The iLab SEA team conducted interviews with street vendors, construction workers, transportation workers, waste pickers, small restaurant owners, domestic workers, and artisans, and were able to gather first-hand information as well as personal accounts of their living and health conditions.
After hearing from the informal workers, the iLab SEA held meetings with local organizations which service informal workers in Cambodia in an effort to understand the supply side of the health care question more deeply. The meeting included informal worker representatives, social health protection actors, and local experts. By meeting with these stakeholders in-person we got an understanding of the services that exist for informal workers, key actors involved in providing these services, and the main constraints they face. The inputs from informal workers and various perspectives of the providers laid the foundation needed to take the next step in the prototyping discovery process.
Participatory Discovery Workshop
The discovery phase of iLab work culminated with the convening of major stakeholders providing services to informal workers. During a day long workshop at the iLab SEA Informal worker representatives and health actors came together at the iLab offices with the goal to discuss and reveal the existing mechanisms for informal workers to receive health care, gaps in those mechanisms, and a brainstorming on how to close those gaps. To reach those goals the facilitators centered around three important areas: identifying challenges, grouping and prioritizing the challenges, and brainstorming solutions.
Out of the lively and open discussions at the workshop the InSTEDD team were able to finalize a number of needs that demonstrate innovative opportunities. The leads included finding new ways for health financing mechanisms to be accessed by informal workers, creating new communication channels for informal workers to access and send information with health providers, and strengthening health delivery standards to boost the quality of service to informal workers. Other interesting insights from the the workshop included the importance of introducing participants to the prototyping process itself as the concept was novel to many. Also, informal worker representatives and health actors derived a lot value in the networking opportunity, revealing that in-person discussions for the two groups are not readily available.
What’s next?
The discovery phase now transitions into a rapid prototyping phase in which draft innovations for testing will be developed. The iLab SEA team will continue with the participatory innovation process, bringing early ideas and prototypes directly to informal workers and their key service providers. Want to track the progress? Check-in on Twitter @InSTEDD and @iLabSEA for the latest updates.
Note: This blog post is the first in a series that will provide a window into the design and innovation methodology at InSTEDD as it is applied to a Rockefeller Foundation rapid prototyping initiative for developing solutions to improve the health of informal workers.
