It Takes All Kinds

As an international development practitioner, I found Rikha Sharma Rani’s piece, The Management Set, particularly interesting. I have noticed the same trend, especially at foundations where at times it feels like the majority of the program officers come from backgrounds in consulting.

In my work in this space, I’ve come to believe that it truly does take a multidisciplinary mix of folks to make the change we want to see in the world.

At IDEO.org, we sit at the intersection of the design world and the social sector — and as a result, we are constantly in the position of having to bridge the gap between the two. We’re perpetually bringing people with international development experience up to speed about human-centered design and, conversely, helping people with deep design experience understand the social sector. It takes time to do both well.

Getting graphic designers, interaction designers, industrial designers, and others from creative backgrounds fluent in development speak and nonprofit jargon is no mean feat. Accordingly, one of the first tools we’ve developed here is a map that provides a simple overview of the sector showing the various types of funding and implementing organizations and the flows of money.

One thing we believe at IDEO.org is that teams that are intentionally multidisciplinary are more effective. We’ve put an interaction designer in a room with a business designer and a graphic designer. We combine public health experts with designers and ensure that they learn from one another.

The challenges we face related to poverty alleviation are complex and intractable — and we need all different types of thinkers tackling them. We need those from the worlds of business and management consulting, those who are creative problem solvers, and absolutely those with deep expertise related to international development.