This article is written by Sachin Gupta, Team Leader, Palladium - I4ID Tanzania.

A quiet revolution is brewing across governments around the world.

At the centre of the change is design thinking. A concept that ordinarily describes problem-solving methods among designers of software and machines is now being practised to solve intractable challenges around improving public services.

In essence, design thinking is about making those challenges (sometimes referred to as “wicked problems”) more intelligible as well as more tangible, often using modelling techniques to turn abstract issues into deductible concrete solutions.

Already, semi-autonomous policy-lab units are popping up in places like Singapore, New Zealand and the UK. These provide tools and incentives to help policymakers understand deep-seated problems, incorporate diverse perspectives, and develop solutions through co-creation, rapid prototyping and iteration. The “skunkworks” project being set up at 10 Downing Street is one recent example of this trend.

Tanzania has made important strides to support deaf people, at a relatively low cost, using design thinking

Foreign aid agencies are also innovating. One prominent example is Institutions 4 Inclusive Development (I4ID), an experimental facility funded by UK aid and IrishAid, and managed by Palladium which has been trying to work out whether similar approaches might work for complex development problems such as urban waste management, access to clean water, facilitation of sub-national investment, and access to menstrual health products.

In Tanzania, design thinking has had a particularly positive impact on the experience of deaf people.

Most deaf people in Tanzania live without any sign language

The UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities recognises access to a developed national sign language and a bi-lingual education system with fluent teachers as a fundamental human right. However, 152 of the UN’s 193 member states have no legally recognised national sign language. In practice, this means that deaf people all over the world are forced to grapple with a patchwork of improvised or adapted signs.

In addition, only around 3% of deaf children receive any formal education.

Tanzania performs slightly better than average when it comes to educating the deaf. The country has just over 1,000 places in specialised deaf schools and another 1,000 in integrated schools. Yet this still leaves most deaf children behind. Moreover, the few deaf schools that do exist use different sign language systems imported from other countries, which makes it difficult to build a common sign language that all deaf people can use.

Tanzania sign language from Sachin Gupta on Vimeo.

Systems change: Agile, cost-effective policy responses with broad coalitions

The good news is that within just 18 months, Tanzania has made important strides to support deaf people, at a relatively low cost, using design thinking. What we’ve learned from applying this method over the course of these last 18 months provides valuable lessons for public servants everywhere.

The sequence to design thinking is to first define the user’s problem so that it is properly understood, then to work with the user on producing a realistic prototype solution before testing and tweaking as many times as is needed to achieve the optimum result.

Only around 3% of deaf children receive any formal education

The government adopted Tanzania Sign Language (TSL) as the official national sign language in 2018. Since then, it has invested a lot of its own resources into teacher training, curriculum development and a new, expanded TSL dictionary, covering the entire secondary school curriculum. It has also leveraged a coalition that includes two national television broadcasters, investing their own resources in providing TSL interpreters on the daily evening news, and helping to popularise TSL across the country.

The national association for the deaf, CHAVITA, has invested all its members’ time and energy into participating, so as to make sure the new sign language works for them. It’s also successfully collaborated with politicians to build the government's commitment to the scheme. Now, the Prime Minister, and other leaders, travel with TSL interpreters for major speeches, and at last years’ International Deaf Week, committed to improving access to their services in government departments, health centres and police stations.

Finding agility within traditional institutions

Tanzania’s success can be attributed in large part to the principles of design thinking. Here are some pointers to help policymakers apply it in practice:

  • Going with the grain: I4ID has been offered to the Government of Tanzania with no pre-set agenda, and that’s helped it look for windows of opportunity with high political energy for change such as when, for example, a news story broke nationally about a deaf school with high failure rates.
  • Rapid, compelling findings and recommendations: Policymakers need to show that they are acting quickly when the spotlight is on them. Good, timely analysis and feasible recommendations tested through low-cost prototypes all of which help to demonstrate “quick wins”, and build momentum.
  • Agile funding to catalyse larger investments: Innovation facilities can play a unique role with small but critical funding to test solutions that build the case for bigger, sector-wide investments through the budget cycle.
  • Broad coalitions, with civil society: Broad coalitions can play a vital role to ensure changes genuinely serve the needs of users, and to remind policymakers of the political dividend that comes from successful reforms.

Whether we call them “policy labs”, “skunkworks”, or “adaptive programmes”, examples such as Tanzania’s programme to include and educate its deaf suggest that design thinking might well contain the key to best practice for a new generation of public servants determined to make a difference to people’s lives. This quiet revolution may yet make noise. — Sachin Gupta

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