Client
Federal Ministry of Health Ethiopia and Population Services International-Ethiopia
Sector
Public health, Sexual Reproductive Health
Key activities
Insight gathering and testing tools with target audience, adaptation of existing tools, creative direction for graphic design
Adaptation of Smart Start in Gambella, Benishangul-Gumuz, and Addis Ababa
The project is owned by the Ministry of Health and Population Service International Ethiopia, who aim to adapt and contextualize the Smart Start approach to the Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella, and Addis Ababa regions, under the RISE program.
Smart Start, PSI/E’s innovative approach, empowers married adolescent girls and their husbands to achieve financial goals through informed family planning. By positioning contraception as a tool for financial success, it encourages couples to thoughtfully plan births. Following initial success, PSI, with the Ministry of Health (MoH), is integrating Smart Start nationwide into Ethiopia’s Health Extension Program under the RISE initiative.
Recognizing the need for hyper-local adaptation, this project aimed to tailor Smart Start for married adolescent girls aged 15 to 24 in the Gambella, Benishagul- Gumuz and Addis Ababa regions.
Our Human-Centered Design (HCD) engagement, spanning six months, involved four key phases:
- Inception: Developing learning objectives and discussion guides based on desk research, and preparing existing tools, including modified tools for the urban context
- Engagement: Testing tools with married adolescent girls (15-24) and their husbands, community leaders, Health Extension Workers (HEWs), and key stakeholders across all three regions
- Synthesis: Collaboratively synthesizing findings into user stories, insights, and opportunity statements with PSI, MoH, and Regional Health Bureau stakeholders
- Production: Defining the adaptation strategy, including key messaging, service blueprint, and associated tools, then overseeing graphic design and production
Outputs:
- Discussion Guides and Adapted Smart Start Tools
- Co-creation Workshop
- User stories, insight and opportunity statements
- Key Messages and Graphic Design Brief
- Context-Specific Tools
The design and adaptation phase of this project is complete, and it has now been successfully handed over to PSI/E for implementation.
