Service Design for Development Interventions

This thesis examines how service design can be applied to development interventions in low and middle-income countries to improve environmental sustainability and social well-being. Using case studies from Kenya and Uganda, the research demonstrates that service design tools—such as prototyping, archetype construction, and participatory backcasting—can identify user value, enhance local agency, and map future development pathways. The work proposes an integrative framework combining service design with the capabilities approach to better navigate the complexity and non-linearity of social-ecological systems.

• Service design tools in complex social-ecological contexts serve as mechanisms for understanding how users assign value to services over time. Specifically, prototyping and archetype construction help identify patterns in diverse needs and behaviors and communicate design parameters to programmers and policymakers.
• Prototyping can increase local agency by enabling research participants to question the fundamental assumptions of proposed interventions.
• Participatory backcasting functions as a tool for prototyping future development pathways and helps facilitate both collective and individual action in the short term.
• The integration of service design devices with quantitative methods enables the triangulation of findings and provides a more thorough understanding of complex contexts.
• The research provides two conceptual contributions: it frames service design as an integrative approach for transdisciplinary development research in complex social-ecological contexts, and it links service design with the capabilities approach to help designers align their work with local contexts and normative development goals.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2023). Service Design for Development Interventions. https://www.sei.org/publications/service-design-for-development-interventions/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Service Design for Development Interventions. 2023. https://www.sei.org/publications/service-design-for-development-interventions/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Service Design for Development Interventions |date=8 May 2023 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/service-design-for-development-interventions/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2023service, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Service Design for Development Interventions}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2023}, month = may, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/service-design-for-development-interventions/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }