Human-Centred Technology Design in Humanitarian Action
Making a regular practice of exploring innovative technological solutions to problems and gaps in humanitarian responses offers immense potential for improved and more sustainable service delivery, even as a crisis evolves into a longer-term development phase.
To achieve the most positive impact possible, these solutions must be co-created with the people they aim to serve. This collaboration requires:
Meaningful, ongoing engagement rather than one-off consultations
Flexible, iterative processes that can adapt to rapidly changing contexts
A holistic view of digital technology as one element in the humanitarian response
By following the principles, processes, and practical tips in this guide, humanitarian practitioners can both leverage digital technology for better aid and strengthen accountability, trust, and equity.
What is this guide for?
This guide aims to bring those two worlds together in a practical and effective process – and adds a third aspect: using human-centred design (HCD) techniques to partner with people caught in a crisis and co-create technology-based solutions to problems. Recognising people as the best experts on their own lives and using that knowledge to develop apps, bots and other digital tools should ensure that these are:
- more accessible to a range of people
- more relevant to their needs
- safer
- more trusted
Who is this guide for?
For readers from an HCD or technology background, this guide offers tips on how to adapt those principles to a humanitarian response.
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How to use this guide
The development and use of technology in humanitarian action involves decisions that directly affect people’s lives, safety, and dignity. Therefore, designing technology in these contexts requires more than technical solutions: it demands clear ethical principles, a deep understanding of communities, and a people-centered mindset.
This website brings together guidelines, approaches, and resources that support the responsible design and use of humanitarian technology and the goal is to accompany diverse teams in making informed, inclusive, and context-sensitive decisions, promoting technologies that respond to real needs and contribute to generating positive impact without causing harm.
Learn about the sections:
The Basics
This section establishes a common basis for making informed decisions, reducing risks, and ensuring that technology does no harm.
Bring together the fundamental principles for designing, developing, and using digital technologies in humanitarian contexts in a responsible, ethical, and people-centered manner. Here you will find key guidance on responsible technology development, essential considerations for working with affected communities, ethical principles, and guidelines for ensuring clear and respectful informed consent.
Who to involve
This section provides guidance on mapping key actors, understanding team roles and alliances, and deepening knowledge of affected communities.
Focuses on identifying the people and actors who should be involved in the co-design of humanitarian technologies. Its goal is to ensure that design decisions are based on real relationships, meaningful collaboration, and a contextual understanding of those who interact with the technology.
The design process
This section brings together the fundamentals of human-centered design and participatory approaches to technology development in humanitarian contexts.
It promotes active collaboration with communities and stakeholders, presents the principles and mindset necessary to understand real and contextual needs, and shows examples that illustrate how these practices are applied in specific situations.
Tools and templates
This section offers ready-to-use resources that help plan, facilitate participatory processes, document decisions, and apply ethical and people-centered principles throughout the design cycle.
Its goal is to translate conceptual frameworks into concrete actions, facilitating their adoption by teams with varying levels of experience and in real work contexts.
Principles
Without careful consideration, digital solutions can exclude vulnerable groups, create unintended harm, or erode trust. Research for this project identified the following principles as the basis of a responsible approach to technology in humanitarian action:
Inclusiveness
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Truly inclusive solutions imply actively engaging people on their terms, understanding their diverse needs, constraints and capacities, and ensuring that marginalised and at-risk groups are valued partners.
Accessibility
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Humanitarian technology should meet people where they are, removing barriers related to language, literacy, physical condition, connectivity, geography and digital skills. Accessibility should be built into every stage of technology choices, design and usage.
Relevance
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Solutions must be problem-driven, not technology-driven. This requires deep engagement with people to hear how they define problems and to understand their actual needs rather than relying on assumptions. Interventions should be continuously validated by communities and adapted based on real-world conditions.
Safety
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Technology use in humanitarian settings comes with significant risks. Organisations must identify, assess, and actively mitigate potential harm, including physical security risks, data-protection concerns, and unintended consequences such as surveillance, exclusion, and misuse of personal information.
Trust
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No matter how well a solution is designed, it will be effective only if people trust it. Building and maintaining trust requires transparency, accountability, and meaningful community participation. Building and maintaining trust is not a tick-box exercise. Once earned, it must be continuously nurtured.
By embedding these principles into technology design and use, humanitarians and technology providers can ensure technology solutions empower and don’t exploit people affected by crises.
About the research
On this page, you will find information compiled as a result of the research project “Human-centred technology design in humanitarian action.” These resources, developed by CLEAR Global, are part of an initiative funded by the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub (UKHIH), which aims to establish participatory and community-driven approaches to developing digital technology with people from crisis-affected communities. The goal is to ensure that technology can be used easily and effectively as a humanitarian tool, enhancing aid delivery.
Digital technology should be considered just one tool among a comprehensive approach for meeting urgent needs and supporting throughout ongoing crises and recovery. For technology solutions to achieve the most positive impact, they must be co-created with the people they aim to serve.