As design minds in the US try to figure out whether effective problem solving can still be called design-thinking or needs to be replaced by another buzz word called creative intelligence (refer to Bruce Nussbaums recent article on the subject, and Robert Fabricant’s take on creative intelligence) a conclave in India tries to figure out how to incorporate design-thinking in the process of governance to create effective citizen government interfaces.

Design!publiC conclave was held in India on 18th March. The event was organized by a number of partners including Center for Internet and Society, Center for Knowledge Societies and sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. The conclave tried to elaborate upon design-thinking and the challenge of governance innovation.

India is not the sole government that lacks empathy when it comes to delivering services. However, the government of India does happen to be the largest service provider in the country. Other than the blatant corruption and bureaucracy that plagues the various systems and services that the government provides, there is little effort amongst the heads of the states to simplify the tediousness that goes with anything government related.

Visiting India this time and speaking with my brother who lives in Singapore about the salaries the government employees in Singapore made, made me think that maybe there needs to a simpler system to bribe the government employees in India. Wherein a bribe can be considered a service fee and can be paid easily through legal channels. More along the lines of tipping the wait staff in certain countries. My ideas did not make it to the round tables of this conclave but other better ideas did. A bunch of case studies on government innovation formulated a part of this conclave like a new design for a vaccine services delivery kit in Bihar by Center for Knowledge Societies; Design for public transportation in the sparsely populated Oppland County in Norway by Live|Work; Reduction of red tapism in private industry and government interaction by Mindlab; Redressing Gender imbalances with Bicycle gifts by Government of Bihar to name a few noteworthy projects.

As previously stated, the conclave was centered around design-thinking and governance. There were representatives from design practices, social awareness groups, the government of India as well as Denmark and many more interesting places. Anand Dev Sood, one of the organizers is quoted as saying, ” the application of design in the public arena can create systems and services that are more efficient, more cost effective and more useful for the people whom they service’.

The conclave included a few panel discussions that discussed questions like – What do Designers do? How can Physical, Informational and Interaction Design Impact the Everyday Life of Citizens? How Can Governments Best Use Designers and Design Thinking? How Can Social / Media Promote Design and Governance Innovation? What Institutional and Organizational Models can best Foster Governance Innovation? On the other hand, there were brainstorming and concepting sessions around ‘Conducting Ethnography to Inform the Innovation Process’ and ‘Approaches to Institutionalizing Innovation in Government’.

Public sector innovation is the next new thing in India and it won’t be long before it gains momentum through such conclaves and efforts. There is growing interest in the approach of user centered service design. This involves ethnographic research where design researchers go out into the field to understand the needs of the user who is the center of this initiative. The tools employed to conduct this research may be many and could include workshops with the users, use of technology to record experiences and living patters, interviews etc. The second phase involves collecting all this data into a digestible format where common themes can be grouped together to understand patterns, the patterns are later developed into insights and the insights are synthesized by designers in actual products. This may seem like a whole lot of design jargon but is an effective way to capture the needs and necessities of the users who are often ignored and left out of services that are being created for their benefit.

In countries like India, this road is full of skepticism and challenges. Governance is often conservative and traditional. Very few countries have the luxury of having truly innovative leadership. India is certainly not one of them, not because there aren’t any talented and progressive thinkers in the government, but because a big part of governance in India is leftover from the British Raj. It is archaic, hierarchical, complex and old. Government systems are also very different from private sector. In this case, key partnerships need to be formed with government departments so that they can benefit from more progressive and innovative thought leadership. An effective citizen government interface will be formulated if there is adequate interest from both the sides to make this relationship work. Citizens need to ask for effective governance and the government needs to listen. The presence of representatives from the National Planning Commission and the Ministry of Housing in this conclave is an optimistic sign that things are moving in the right direction and we hope they continue to do so.

For more details on the conclave:
Using Design Principles for Good Governance for Livemint by Aparna Piramal Raje (also has a video in the post which is informational)
Design!publiC: design for governance in India by Putting people first
The Designpublic blog

Lina Srivastava is the Principal of Lina Srivastava Consulting, LLC, which focuses on employing strategy, innovation, engagement and the use of cultural assets to create and demonstrate social change. For our new feature ‘The Indovators’, Lina talks about opportunities for indian designers in the fields of service design, information design, systems design, climate change and more.  She elaborates on how designers can use their inherent skills to create cross sector relationships and communication channels.  She also emphasizes the importance of fostering a climate of creation and risk taking in a conservative risk averse culture.  Overall, the first feature of our new series tells us why designing for the developing nations is a challenging yet gratifying and why innovation matters.