Design Devices for Human Development

This research paper explores how service design tools, such as experience mapping and prototyping, can be used to create development interventions that achieve transformational outcomes for low-income communities, using case studies from Kenya and Uganda.

• The authors utilized a service design approach in Kenya and Uganda to develop two specific interventions: a fuel system and clean cookstove, and an insurance product designed to assist farmers in managing climate variability.
• The application of design tools—specifically prototyping, archetype construction, and experience mapping—allowed for the identification of values, capacities, and individual needs, which were then integrated into the design features of the interventions.
• By applying Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach as an analytical frame, the research suggests that these design devices can assist designers in co-designing services that target social well-being and environmental sustainability to achieve transformational development outcomes.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2022). Design Devices for Human Development. https://www.sei.org/publications/design-devices-for-human-development/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Design Devices for Human Development. 2022. https://www.sei.org/publications/design-devices-for-human-development/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Design Devices for Human Development |date=25 August 2022 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/design-devices-for-human-development/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2022design, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Design Devices for Human Development}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = aug, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/design-devices-for-human-development/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }