Empowering stakeholders
to take a
non-human perspective
Client: BrabantAdvies
2022 | OneHealth Design Thinking
This research project investigated the potential of combining Design Thinking principles with a 'One Health' perspective to address the complex challenge of zoonotic disease risk management. Specifically, it focused on increasing the awareness of stakeholders involved in nature-inclusive farming, a context where zoonotic risks are present but often poorly understood and under-regulated. The core output was the design and evaluation of a novel multi-stakeholder session aimed at improving risk identification and shared understanding.
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The Challenge: Complexity, Diverse Perspectives, and Low Awareness
Managing zoonotic disease risk, particularly in emerging agricultural contexts like nature-inclusive farming, presents a wicked problem characterized by:
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Multi-Stakeholder Complexity: Involving actors with human, animal, and environmental interests, often holding diverse and sometimes opposing perspectives, expertise levels, and priorities (e.g., farmers, veterinarians, government officials, environmental experts).
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Knowledge Gaps: Uncertainty surrounding specific zoonotic risks within nature-inclusive systems, coupled with varying levels of zoonotic literacy among stakeholders.
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Need for Alignment: Difficulty in creating shared understanding and facilitating collaborative action due to the complexity and diverse viewpoints. Existing risk management frameworks often lack pragmatic tools for deep stakeholder connection and perspective-taking.
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One Health Implementation Gap: While the One Health approach (considering human, animal, and environmental health interconnectedly) is recognized, its practical application in multi-stakeholder settings remains challenging.
The Approach: Integrating Design Thinking & One Health
To address these challenges, this project adopted a research-through-design approach, developing and testing a specific intervention:
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Design Thinking Methodology: Utilized as the foundational structure for designing the intervention (the session). Emphasized empathy, visualization, structured exercises, and iterative development (through pilots).
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One Health Perspective: Integrated pragmatically within the session design, not just as a framework but as an active lens for perspective-taking (using a post-humanistic view where non-human actors are given voice).
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Multi-Stakeholder Focus: Centered on bringing diverse experts together to foster dialogue and shared understanding.
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Qualitative Case Study: Focused on the context of nature-inclusive farming in the Brabant region (Netherlands) to evaluate the designed session's effects on stakeholder awareness.
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The Process: Designing and Evaluating the Intervention
Contextual Inquiry & Stakeholder Mapping:
To build a foundational understanding of the problem space, stakeholder ecosystem, and existing risk management processes.
Multi-Stakeholder Session Design
Creating a toolkit and process that guides stakeholders through structured discussion, empathy-building, and collaborative risk identification from a holistic One Health viewpoint. Iterated design based on pilot sessions. Containing four interconnected exercises incorporating the One Health perspective:
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Nature-Inclusive Change Cards & Map: To build empathy with the farming context and brainstorm potential changes/risks.
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One Health Personas: Provided cards representing farmer, visitor, pig, and environment perspectives to facilitate empathy with diverse human and non-human actors.
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One Health Empathy Maps: Guided participants to explore the behaviours, concerns, and aspirations of the different OH actors regarding a specific zoonotic risk identified earlier.
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Possible Transmission Timeline: A journey-mapping exercise from the perspective of the zoonosis itself to visualize potential pathways and identify critical points.
Session Execution & Data Collection
Observing the session in action and gather data on the experience and interactions. Facilitated the designed session with 7 expert participants from 6 stakeholder groups. The session focused explicitly on risk identification within nature-inclusive farming. Recorded the session and collected materials produced during exercises.
Session Evaluation
Systematically evaluating the effectiveness of the designed session in achieving its goal of increasing awareness and facilitating understanding.Assessed the impact and experience of the session using User Experience Questionnaire, Semi-structured Evaluation Interviews and a questionnaire for farmers.
Data Analysis
Synthesizing findings and understand the effects of the session on stakeholder awareness, perspective-taking, knowledge sharing, and overall experience.
The Outcome: An Evaluated 'One Health Design Thinking' Session & Key Insights
This research project delivered:
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A Novel Session Design: A structured, replicable multi-stakeholder workshop integrating Design Thinking exercises with a pragmatic One Health perspective, specifically tailored for zoonotic risk identification and awareness-building.
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Evidence of Increased Awareness (Qualitative): Evaluation findings indicated the session successfully:
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Increased participants' awareness of other stakeholders' perspectives.
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Facilitated effective knowledge sharing across disciplines.
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Improved stakeholder alignment and empathy, particularly through the One Health persona and empathy map exercises.
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Provided a structured, visual, and engaging alternative to traditional discussion formats for tackling complex issues.
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Positioning as an Alignment Tool: The research concluded the session is highly effective as an initial alignment exercise for diverse expert groups early in the risk management process. It helps frame the problem holistically and fosters a shared understanding before diving into detailed risk assessment or solution design.
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Insights into OH & Design Integration: Demonstrated a practical method for integrating the One Health concept into a design thinking process, making abstract principles tangible and actionable for participants.
This project provides a validated methodological contribution for tackling complex, multi-stakeholder challenges in public health and environmental management, showcasing how a tailored Design Thinking approach enriched with a One Health lens can effectively enhance awareness and collaboration.