Human-Centered Design Consultant

Job title: Human-Centered Design Consultant
Department: Latin America and Asia
Based in Location: Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City and/or Hanoi)
Reports to: the Country Director

Who we are

We’re Population Services International (PSI), the world’s leading non-profit social marketing organization. We work to make it easier for people in the developing world to be healthy by providing access to products and services that range from mosquito nets to HIV testing. There are over 7,000 “PSI’ers” around the world. It’s a diverse group of entrepreneurs and professionals with an unusually wide range of backgrounds-- from the medical industry to the music business - all with unique skills we bring to the job.

Join us!

We are looking for a Human-Centered Design (HCD) Consultant to help plan and facilitate a design sprint and drive forward the prototyping phase of Using Human-Centered Design to Reduce Unintended Pregnancy Among Youth in Vietnam, a 3 year Demand Creation project designed to achieve increased awareness of, access to, and demand for, contraception and reproductive health services among urban youth in Vietnam. Through the inception phase of this program, HCD will be used to identify and develop innovative demand creation interventions to increase uptake of methods and promote healthy family planning behaviors. The HCD Consultant will be responsible for driving the prototyping process (demand creation interventions) and training the PSI Vietnam team through both formal theories and practical application.

The HCD Consultant will be responsible for synthesizing research inputs, planning and co-facilitating a design sprint workshop with program staff and target users, and the early-stage prototyping of workshop ideational outputs. The Consultant will be responsible for leading the team through the prototype phase, resulting in evolved, evidence-based demand creation interventions to increase awareness of, access to and uptake of appropriate family planning methods ready for piloting in the second year of the project.  

Sound like you? Read on.

Your contribution

You will be responsible for the application of a human-centered design process, including workshop development and preparing our demand creation prototypes for the testing stage. You will work with the Social Behavior Change Advisor based in Washington D.C. and the PSI Vietnam project team to push forward the prototyping process, with the goal of having an intervention ready for piloting by the second year of the project.

Specific responsibilities will include:

• Draw insights from existing primary and secondary research collated by the project including findings from a qualitative inquiry on youth perceptions of sexual health and contraceptive use 

• Employ lean human-centered design techniques to address critical gaps in evidences or information, including:
  
  • Profile possible sub-segments within youth target audience, based on their level of satisfaction, perception of risk (of an unwanted pregnancy) and their desire to uptake/continue with modern methods of contraceptives
  • Role of service providers, especially doctors, unqualified providers and community health workers in decisions for contraception and counselling
  • What are the characteristics of an ideal contraceptive method for youth; where would these youth prefer seeking information and advice on contraceptives
  • How are the journey cycles of contraception use different for youth of different SES status, semi-urban and urban youth, and for unmarried adolescent youth and married adolescent youth?
  • Understanding the decision-making process on contraceptive use; is it a mutual decision or forced decision? (reproductive coercion)
  • Alternate touch-points for accessing contraceptives during this journey to contraception

• Effectively engage with the target audience (youth) and associated actors potentially including others in the social circle, parents, and health care providers, especially pharmacists, unqualified providers and community health workers to arrive at a long list of solutions

• Conduct ideation sessions with multidisciplinary groups, including project representatives, stakeholders and technical experts to develop initial prototypes

• Plan and manage rapid testing and iteration of prototypes in the field to develop and finalize 1-2 concepts for the project to pilot

• Continue supporting, at a reduced scale, in the first few months of the implementation to enable PSI-Vietnam to make modifications to the intervention/s, as may be needed

Anticipated timeline ~6 months

September 2019: Review of inputs for the design sprint (stakeholder analysis, qualitative interviews, literature review, etc.)

October-November 2019: Planning for design workshop

December 2019: Design workshop (in Vietnam)*

January-February 2020: Prototyping/Iteration (in Vietnam)*

February 2020 onward: Potential ongoing support as needed through implementation

*The Design workshop is planned for 2 weeks in December 2019. The HCD Consultant would be expected to cofacilitate this workshop, as well as lead initial prototyping in country.

What are we looking for?

The basics

• You have a bachelor’s degree (Master’s degree preferred) in design, public health, international development, social sciences or relevant field
• You have at least four years of experience in human-centered design
• You have passion and experience in building local skills and team development
• You have worked using an HCD approach in the developing world
• You have experience working in public health, NGOs and/or the social sector
• You have led teams of other designers and (ideally) non-designers in a human centered design process
• References will be required.

What would get us excited?

• Capacity Builder: You have experience in building institution, local technical, management and leadership capacity.
• Collaborative manager. You are able to inspire a shared vision for the country staff. You have successfully helped your teams learn, grow, and thrive in their work.
• A systems thinker. You are able to develop system-wide solutions, connecting several ideas into a larger and coherent solution. You can look at the big picture and understand the opportunities in the Vietnam setting.
• A strategist and an innovator. You are creative, innovative and a strategic thinker. You have a strong interest in private-sector approaches to development and a proven ability to produce results.

STATUS

• Consultant
• Please apply by 7/31/2019
• CVs should be sent to [email protected]

PSI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from qualified individuals regardless of actual or perceived race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, personal appearance, matriculation, political affiliation, family status or responsibilities, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions or breastfeeding, genetic information, amnesty, veteran, special disabled veteran or uniform service
member status or employment status.