Edtech Startups in Africa Must Understand Government-Centred Design to Scale Their Products to Public Schools.
This article is part of a series of Sahara Consult articles addressing issues around Edtech adoption in Africa, which is part of the Mastercard Foundation Edtech Fellowship Programme in Tanzania.
Human-centred design (HCD) and User-Centered Design (UCD) have become pivotal approaches for innovators and organizations striving to create viable, feasible, and desirable products and solutions. These methodologies, widely championed by Ideo.org, are now integral to the development sector for designing and assessing the impact of interventions. Their popularity underscores the need for solutions that resonate with users and ensure relevance, growth, and sustainability.
Similarly, frameworks like the Principles for Digital Development and the Doblin Ten Types of Innovation have been established to emphasize the importance of ecosystems and systems thinking in designing and deploying solutions. However, while these approaches have effectively addressed many key aspects of systems thinking, they often fall short in highlighting the critical role of government, especially in the African context. In regions where government influence is paramount for the diffusion of innovations to grassroots users, it is essential to recognize and integrate the role of governmental bodies in the design and deployment processes.
What is Government-Centred-Design?
I have searched for a formal definition of government-centered design, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find one that fits the context I want to share. For instance, the existing definition adopted by the Open Access Government centres on how the government employs a human-centred design approach to enhance the public sector service experience. This definition primarily focuses on improving the government's services to the general public.
In contrast, my definition emphasizes how innovators and organizations can design products and services that ensure seamless integration with existing public systems, facilitating easy deployment, adoption, and scaling of solutions. This approach, which I term government-centred design, highlights the importance of creating solutions that align with and support public infrastructures. By ensuring a plug-and-play relationship with government systems, this approach aims to streamline the adoption process, enhance scalability, and ultimately drive more significant impact through collaborative innovation. This perspective underscores the critical role of designing with the existing governmental frameworks in mind to achieve sustainable and widespread implementation of innovative solutions.
Government-Centered Design is an approach where innovators and organizations create products and services that seamlessly integrate with existing public systems. This method emphasizes ensuring easy deployment, adoption, assessment and scalability by aligning with governmental frameworks and infrastructures. By designing solutions that fit within the established public sector landscape, this approach facilitates smoother implementation, enhances the effectiveness of innovations, and maximizes their impact on society — Jumanne Mtambalike
The Government-Centered Design framework approach emphasizes creating products and services that seamlessly integrate with existing public systems. By focusing on four key pillars—integration with Public Systems, Ease of Deployment and Adoption, Scalability and Sustainability, and Impact Assessment and Continuous Improvement—this framework ensures that innovations are effectively aligned with governmental frameworks and infrastructures.
Reflective questions within each pillar guide innovators and organizations in designing solutions that facilitate smooth implementation, enhance adoption, ensure long-term viability, and maximize societal impact. This comprehensive approach fosters collaboration with public sector entities, ensuring that new solutions are practical and impactful within the established public landscape.
Adopting Government-Centred-Design in EdTech Ecosystems
Adopting the Government-Centered Design approach can significantly enhance the effectiveness of EdTech ecosystems in Africa. By ensuring their products and services align with existing public education systems and governmental frameworks, EdTech startups can achieve smoother deployment and broader adoption of their solutions. This alignment enables collaboration with educational institutions and government agencies, facilitating easier navigation of regulatory environments and leveraging existing infrastructure.
For example, integrating digital learning platforms with national curricula ensures relevance and consistency in educational content, while partnering with government-supported internet initiatives can enhance accessibility in remote areas, especially for zero-rated content programmes. A startup like MITz Kits, which deploys STEAM kits for schools, can capitalize on existing public programmes and initiatives run by the government while strategically aligning with the country's new curriculum by working closely with the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) and the Ministry. The consequence of MITz Kits not prioritizing engagement with the government is irrelevance and stagnated growth due to a lack of access to public schools and a lack of understanding and alignment with the existing curriculum needs.
Closing Thoughts
Acknowledging the government’s pivotal position can significantly enhance the reach and impact of innovative solutions, ensuring they effectively serve the needs of the final consumers. In a country like Tanzania, where a significant number of schools are owned by the government, it is key to prioritize government engagement.
Most schools in Tanzania are government- owned. As of 2022, only 11 per cent of primary schools and 24 per cent of secondary schools were private (Tanzania, MoEST 2022) — UNICEF
By focusing on government integration, EdTech startups can secure funding for strategic growth from public partners, establish partnerships with third-party organizations, and ensure the sustainability and scalability of their innovations. This strategic alignment enhances the startups’ relevance and impact and contributes to the overall improvement of educational outcomes across the continent.
