User-Centred Design Lead

Work Arrangement:

Job Description

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC works with people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities which support them, as well as those who remain within their homes and communities. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure.

Venezuelans are facing hyperinflation, violence, insecurity, and threats in their home country. During their migration journey, they lack food, medicine, and essential services wherever they are. The number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela surpassed 7.2 million globally. This is the second-largest external displacement crisis worldwide. In this context, a great number of Venezuelans in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru require humanitarian assistance as they experience harm, extreme poverty, and struggle to survive.

Since 2018, the IRC provides life-saving and life-changing services through healthcare, education, protection, and economic well-being programs for migrant, refugee, and host communities at risk within Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. This regional and cross-border operation is based on a mixed implementation modality in which the IRC delivers direct services and partners with local organizations to increase the program's impact and scale. The IRC presence in South America is funded by public and private donors including BHA, BPRM, ECHO, SIDA, and GFFO, among others.

Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) Self-Care Exploratory Phase

The IRC’s Venezuelan crisis response (VCR) includes health, education, protection, livelihoods, and cash services for migrants in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Our clients often do not have access to public health services or may not choose to access them, making control over when to become pregnant a challenge. Self-care products and services that allow clients to control their fertility without the direct intervention of health care providers have the potential for increasing contraceptive coverage among these clients. While there are several self-care products and services being implemented in across the VCR region, little is known about the combination of products and services that best meet our clients’ preferences and life experiences across their migratory journey.

The Airbel Impact Lab is partnering with the IRC’s VCR team to implement an SRH Self-Care Exploratory Phase of user-centred design to generate a long-list of ideas for how contraceptive self-care products can meet the desires of our clients. Using human-centred design activities, we will better understand clients’ experiences in managing their contraceptive coverage, their preferences for contraceptive and other sexual and health self-care products, and how they might like to access products and services. This work will take place concurrently in at least 2 sites in Colombia, where most migrants first depart Venezuela, and 1 site in Peru, an endpoint for many migrants.

Based on these insights from female clients and providers, the design team, comprised by designers, a behavioural scientist, a sexual health expert, and an IRC implementing team member, will identify opportunity areas for contraceptive self-care products and services to meet the desires of women and girls. Opportunity areas should come from client insights, observations, review of evidence, expert interviews, provider and partner experiences, and inspiration from other sectors. They could range from policy-level opportunities, such as “Make Access to Self-Managed Contraceptives Opt-Out at Any Government Service” to interpersonal, such as “Create Group Accountability for Contraceptive Coverage”. These are made up examples of opportunity areas.

For each opportunity area, the design team will be responsible for generating 3-10 ideas for how we might respond to these opportunities. These ideas are intended to be sparked by client stories and are intended to inspire the IRC and partners. These ideas will be co-created with partners, clients, and IRC staff.

Job overview

The Design Lead’s role will be to plan and lead the day-to-day design research activities, synthesis of findings, identification of opportunity areas, and ideation across the 3 design teams. These teams will be working concurrently at different locations and collaborating remotely. Because this work is exploratory, the Design Lead must use their judgement for deciding what areas of interest to explore next and when to change the course of inquiry. This role will involve close coordination with IRC team members in the 3 sites as well as collaboration with the IRC’s implementing partners who work closely with our clients. This person will work with members of the VCR health team remotely with members of the Airbel team.

Main responsibilities

Strategy and Program Approach

- Plan and coordinate design activities: Ensure buy-in from all stakeholders into the exploratory design process and its objectives. Coordinate user-centred design activities with IRC colleagues across sites. Ensure design team members have a common understanding of the objectives of each design activity, are proficient in using tools to reach those objectives, and are equipped to surface useful insights. - Lead the development of design tools: Lead the designers in developing observation sheets, card sorts, storyboards, videos, or other tools to be used in the design research activities. - Synthesis of Phase 1 design research + Opportunity Areas: Data management system of design research download sessions, observation sheets, and photos of design activities. Structure or framework for synthesis for the design teams to follow. Miro board, presentation deck, or other visual form of synthesis of the design research that can be easily presented to stakeholders. Identify opportunity areas for ideation. - Idea generation with stakeholders: Run idea generation sessions with the design team and facilitate sessions with clients and stakeholders in 2 sites. Lead the design team in identifying common themes in the ideas and refining ideas. Facilitate the prioritization of ideas by the IRC and partner teams. - Develop paper prototypes: Coordinate development of paper prototypes (storyboards, videos, mock ups of packages, illustrations) across the design teams and develop a prototyping plan. Coordinate the testing of prototypes with clients and providers. Refine prototypes. - Present the findings of design research: Produce presentation decks, miro boards, and/or other assets to share the opportunity areas, ideas, and results of the prototyping sessions.

Activities:

- Presentation of design process and outcomes in IRC editable format

- Prototypes and prototyping plan - Long list of ideas, prioritized list - Folders of raw data, presentation of synthesis findings to stakeholders, presentation explaining opportunity areas - Presentation deck/miro board for partner and IRC onboarding, list of design research questions and associated design tools, agenda for the first phase of design research - Refined design tools and data capture forms, training of project team

Qualifications

Job Requirements:

Work Experience:

· Explicit User-Centred Design research project leadership for non-digital work

o Experience with semi-structured, exploratory work

o Examples of leading the synthesis process of design research

· Led non-digital prototyping development and testing

· At least 4 projects conducting client-facing work in South or Central America

· At least 3 examples of successfully leading and coordinating projects with remote colleagues.

· At least 2 projects focused on women and girls

· Experience with sexual and reproductive health is desired

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

· Visual Design: Ability to create presentation decks and miro boards for internal and external audiences

· Qualitative Research: Creation of guides and data collection forms for semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions; create card sort exercises and user guides; documentation and synthesis of qualitative research

· Prototyping: Experience developing paper and physical prototypes of non-digital products and services

· Communication: Empathetic, respectful, and culturally sensitive verbal, written, and visual communication skills. Ability to communicate design concepts and activities effectively and clearly with non-design colleagues. Seeks out and incorporates feedback into their work.

· Flexibility: Creates contingency plans and is able to adjust quickly and with good humour when things don’t go according to plan

Language Skills:

· Spanish written and oral fluency

· English spoken fluency

Working Environment:

· Mix of remote and in person work.

Code of Conduct

· Professional conduct standards: IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles described in IRC Way-Standards for Professional Conduct. These are integrity, service, and accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and implements policies on protecting the beneficiary from exploitation and abuse, safeguarding the child, harassment in the workplace, tax integrity and anti-retaliation.

· Gender Equality: IRC is committed to reducing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce, including parental leave, gender-sensitive safety protocols, and other benefits and support subsidies.

· Equal Employer Opportunity: IRC is an equal opportunity employer. The IRC considers all applicants based on merit regardless of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law Applicable.