Abstract
How do we identify the right target beneficiaries within an informal economic ecosystem for development interventions designed to maximize benefits and value for money? This was our initial research question when we conceived the human- centred design research program for exploratory fieldwork to map informal trade in the borderland of Kenya and Uganda. This paper narrates our discovery process and analytical journey identifying a previously unknown segment of micro-entrepreneurs whose business practices lead to the organic development of an economic microsystem - a "value web" or established network of customers, suppliers, and service providers. The individual actors in these microsystems collectively form a value creation engine which we identify as the target beneficiary or end-user, for the design of interventions meant to trigger progressively transformational change in the borderland's informal trade ecosystem. We describe the factors leading to our decision to consider the value creator's entire value web as the end-user, rather than the individuals at the heart of each such microsystem, for optimal outcome of systemic design interventions.
Keywords
systemic design, complexity studies, design research methodology, informal economy
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.674
Citation
Bhan, N., and Gajera, R. (2018) Identifying the User in an Informal Trade Ecosystem, in Storni, C., Leahy, K., McMahon, M., Lloyd, P. and Bohemia, E. (eds.), Design as a catalyst for change - DRS International Conference 2018, 25-28 June, Limerick, Ireland. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.674
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Identifying the User in an Informal Trade Ecosystem
How do we identify the right target beneficiaries within an informal economic ecosystem for development interventions designed to maximize benefits and value for money? This was our initial research question when we conceived the human- centred design research program for exploratory fieldwork to map informal trade in the borderland of Kenya and Uganda. This paper narrates our discovery process and analytical journey identifying a previously unknown segment of micro-entrepreneurs whose business practices lead to the organic development of an economic microsystem - a "value web" or established network of customers, suppliers, and service providers. The individual actors in these microsystems collectively form a value creation engine which we identify as the target beneficiary or end-user, for the design of interventions meant to trigger progressively transformational change in the borderland's informal trade ecosystem. We describe the factors leading to our decision to consider the value creator's entire value web as the end-user, rather than the individuals at the heart of each such microsystem, for optimal outcome of systemic design interventions.