Scaling a nutrition delivery program amidst a food crisis
The challenge
The Asia Foundation aimed to scale a nutrition delivery program to reach underserved communities in northern Sri Lanka during a humanitarian crisis. The challenge was to develop a rapid, scalable solution to connect with users who were hidden behind social stigmas of pride and shame, ensuring timely and effective nutrition delivery.
My role
I led the end-to-end design of the app including research, scoping, prototyping and the final handover.
Impact
The MVP was launched, successfully identifying and delivering nutrition to over 10,000 citizens within the first 3 months.
Team
Bram Govearts, Product Owner
Nkem Oyaghire, UX researcher
Timeline
2022 (4 months)
Overview
From being a role model of social development and well being in the 1970s, Sri Lanka today is showcased as a failed state facing an acute humanitarian crisis. According to WFP’s report from July 2022, 57.4% of the Sri Lankan population were food insecure.
Who is the new poor?
Sources indicated the middle class as the most vulnerable as they fall of the grid with the existing social safety nets. More objective and targeted mapping regarding this were yet to be done. There also existed concerns that significant proportions of the needy may fall off the grid of social welfare support and economic rehabilitation interventions due to errors of inclusion and exclusion.
Discovery & insights
I conducted semi-structured interviews with policy experts and third party consultants. From these interviews , we identified the following underlying issues:
Nutrition delivery program
A small-scale nutrition delivery program in Karaveddy, northern Sri Lanka, serves limited users but requires more resources to scale up.
Resistance of target audience
Due to decades long war, the community in the Northern Province have several prejudices against participating or volunteering in programs.
Top down approach
Target users are identified by the authorities. The beneficiaries have no way to register in the system by themselves.
E-governance
Digital literacy & internet penetration is high in the Northern Province due to E-governance introduced by a young government.
Accessibility
There are about 500 physically challenged users in the area due to the war, apart from senior citizens. So, the design has to address accessibility issues to be inclusive.
Sustainability
The solution has to be sustainable in order to be scalable and inclusive.
Problem statement
How might we scale the existing nutrition program in northern Srilanka to support the underserved middle class households?
Who is our target audience?
The primary target group includes the underserved middle class households. Secondary users include government and third-party organizations who are in charge of the program. We will also need the support of more volunteers and donors to scale up the program in the future.
Key problems
From all the data gathered, we identified three key challenges that need to be addressed:
Identifying the target audience
A bottom-up approach screening test must be developed to help the underserved self-register for the nutrition program.
Inform the target audience
The target audience have to be informed and provided guidance on how to collect monthly nutrition packages.
Scale the program
In order to scale the program, additional support is required in the form of volunteering and donations.
We decided to focus on the first two challenges for the pilot study.
Crafting the user journey
I crafted the user journey based on the user stories from research insights.
Designing for scalability
Our initial idea was to add a screening test to check the user’s eligibility as soon as they log in to Mitura. However, this was changed to ensure the scalability of the application to include other government programs in the future.
Testing & iterating design
Screening test data updates
Monthly income required to meet the monthly expenditure of a middle class household had increased significantly in the past few months due to inflation.
Location name instead of a map
I found out that most of the users were very familiar with their locality. The distribution center name helped them better than navigating through a map.
Coupon approach
Users were more familiar with a coupon based approach for collecting governmental benefits. Moreover, there are several shadow regions in the North with low internet connectivity due to the war. So, an OTP system was introduced to send the coupon via SMS.
Humanity-Centered design
This is one of my favourite projects because it involved understanding the users and the complex roots of the context so deeply to create a humanity-centred design. The final design involved three user journeys:
Screening test to identify the underserved target audience.
Claiming monthly nutrition coupons.
Updating personal information on the portal.
The screening test
Additional information was added to guide the user in every stage. Existing schemes were also included to the test to avoid errors of exclusion and inclusion.
Claiming monthly nutrition
A coupon based approach was used to match the existing mental model of the users.
Onboarding
The onboarding process supports localization by assisting users in customizing Mitura to their desired language preferences. Furthermore, it is structured with scalability in mind, envisioning Mitura as the ultimate platform for all government-related e-services in the future.
Personal data protection
Mitura is integrated with the government portal, allowing users to verify and log in using their national identification number, known as the NIC number. Additionally, users are required to verify their NIC number in order to access and modify their personal information within Mitura.
Impact & sustainability
Inclusivity
By empowering the beneficiaries to register for the program, Mitura enables identification of the most vulnerable.Localization of technology
It showcases localized technology by providing anonymity to beneficiaries, fostering greater local support for community welfare programs despite cultural hesitancy in the Northern Province.Empowering the underserved
The app empowers users to manage their own data and nutrition, contrasting the current scenario where beneficiaries lack any control over the program.Sustainable tomorrow
In the long term, it will create a modern centralized digital database to track the entire vulnerable population, facilitating easier and more efficient program communication and management during future crises.
Reflection
Design is everywhere
I learnt that design inspiration can come from the unlikeliest of places demonstrating that design surrounds us in various forms. I looked for inspirations from diverse domains ranging from car pooling apps to initiatives focused on medical supply and food donations.
Do not assume, test
Many of my assumptions were debunked during the usability testing sessions. It became apparent that user’s mental model may function in ways that diverge from our expectations. This is why continuous feedback is imperative throughout the UX design process.