In the pursuit of achieving the SDGs, the importance of improving how we access, utilize, and disseminate information is critical. While infrastructure and equipment are important for achieving equity in global environmental health – e.g., improving water access or reducing malnutrition – these resources are only part of the larger complex system that enables optimal use and accountability for all stakeholders.
Well-crafted and co-designed information interventions can arguably be just as impactful in sustainable development projects, as direct health interventions such as waster, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). In Co-Designing Information Interventions in Global Environmental Health and Engineering with Marginalized Communities, our multidisciplinary team of practitioners explore key aspects of co-designing information interventions to co-solve local environmental health challenges.
Goals and Delivery of Information
Information interventions aim to achieve a type of goal that can range from simple ‘nudges’ to intensive ‘formal education’. Furthermore, depending on the type of goal, a certain quantity of information can be delivered.
Each type of goal has a process for how that information is delivered (for a nudge, it is the choice architecture). However, there are always enablers and barriers (such as language or economics) in each of these delivery processes.
Innovation in formal education and behavior change has a lengthy history while significant recent work has been conducted on tools and approaches for utilizing nudges for environmental health applications. Similar work on the alleviation of information arbitrage is progressing and will hopefully bring additional resources to the table.
Perceived and Actual Information Value
Understanding both the perceived and actual value of information for the end-user (and co-designer) is critical.
The value of information changes based on various localized factors. For example, knowledge of remedies for diarrhea in children may have a low value for parents until their child gets diarrhea, but as time goes on after the diarrheal episode, this value decreases again.
Furthermore, this perceived value by the parents may not align with the actual value of the information. Therefore, it is important for co-designers of an intervention to have a robust understanding of both the perceived and actual value of the information of interest and how this may fluctuate over time for the end-user.
Co-Developing Information Interventions
Finally, we integrate existing knowledge to provide an overview of steps necessary to enable hyper-local solution development. This includes mapping information systems and flows, both formal and informal, on the problem area (e.g., water distribution, desludging latrines) leveraging traditional and systems thinking approaches (e.g., causal loop diagrams, network analysis).
This can then help inform the types of tools that are feasible to deploy for the intervention, including information collection, analysis, and dissemination (i.e., value aggregation, amplification, and distribution, respectively).
Given broader trends in simplifying digital development and design along with increasing access to these tools, we agree with others that platform development will become more and more hyper-local. This will warrant the need for a continued increase in support resources and guidelines to empower local changemakers across various relevant sectors with the processes they need to build equitable tools.
Incorporating These Concepts into Projects
When working to solve important local problems via an information intervention, incorporating these concepts can hopefully increase your probability of success:
- Clearly define the goal of the information (e.g., nudge: increase handwashing in schools).
- Co-select and co-design the delivery method (e.g., choice architecture: paint arrows on the ground from toilets to handwashing stations).
- If possible, identify points when the perceived value of information will be high enough to provide sufficient value to the end-user (e.g., a handwashing campaign will be occurring in September).
By integrating these strategies, projects can not only deliver information but also increase the probability of action, leading to greater impact.
By Dr. Lee E. Voth-Gaeddert, Assistant Research Professor at Arizona State University
