Human Centered Designer/ Innovation Designer at International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Level of seniority: Experienced


Location: Maiduguri IRC Field Office, with travels to Damaturu

Duration: approximately 1 month short term consulting contract (with opportunity for further collaboration).

Role overview

IRC is looking for a Designer to support the prototyping phase of a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) project in Nigeria. The project is being led by the IRC and the Harvard EASEL Lab.

The project’s objectives are to create -- with teacher feedback -- a toolkit of, easy-to-use, and effective strategies (“kernels”) that promote children's social-emotional development in the classroom and throughout schools. Importantly, the strategies we create in this project should stand alone (i.e., not require traditional lessons or extensive teacher training) and can be selected and used by teachers at their discretion, based on specific student or classroom needs and teacher's own preference or style.

The role is a one month consulting contract, based in IRC Maiduguri Field office with some travels to Damaturu/Yobe. This is a limited contract with opportunities for further collaboration with the IRC.

Detailed expectations

After a first phase of design research, we will have developed an initial set of Social and Emotional Learning strategies, or “kernels”, which we aim to test and iterate for 3 weeks to 1 month, with different groups and variations during in March 2020. We are looking for an experienced designer to lead these early prototyping activities. This is where you come in! If you have design research experience, prototyping experience, an interest in education programs, and creative problem solving skills, you can help finalize the different prototypes for our project.

The Innovation Designer will work in close collaboration with our IRC Education team and Monitoring and Evaluation colleagues in Nigeria, our partners at the Harvard EASEL Lab, as well as the IRC Education and Research and Innovation teams in IRC HQ in New York.

Availability requirements (tentative)

28 February – 31 March, 2020

Required experience

• Previous experience (3+years) running human centred or innovation design research projects in challenging environments is a must.
• Experience in prototyping is required. Candidates without relevant experience or portfolio showing experience will not be contacted.
• The Contractor would provide to IRC the following services (“Scope of Work”):
• Run various design and research activities in Borno and Yobe States. These activities include:
• Support the running of an initial “contextualisation” workshop with IRC, Harvard Easel Lab and a “core” group of teachers, where the first adaptations to the prototypes will be made.
• Lead prototyping activities in Yobe and Borno states in collaboration with a core group of teachers and the IRC Nigeria team, including modifying prototypes as needed.   

• Conduct direct observations of children and teachers’ engagement with the prototypes.
• Define and implement the best methods to collect qualitative and quantitative data needed for the project. Constantly refine methods based on findings and stakeholders.
• Document and synthesize insights from field visits and prototyping activities and share with both IRC and Harvard teams. 
• Lead the analysis of the research findings, synthesizing prototyping activities and results into actionable recommendations and concepts.
• Document your insights and findings onto a wide variety of materials such as personas, storyboards, user journeys, scenarios, flowcharts, prototypes, design specifications and more.
• Iterate on design of prototypes based on feedback using analog and digital tools
• Provide regular communications, updates and debriefing with IRC Nigeria/HQ staff and Harvard EASEL Lab to discuss findings from visits.
• Contribute to other aspects of the project (strategy, planning, research, etc.) as a member of an interdisciplinary team which includes other designers, project managers, behavioural scientists, education specialists and more.
• Work closely with the IRC Nigeria team and ensure smooth handover of activities upon end of contract.

Job and skills requirements: 


• Bachelor's Degree with 3+ years of experience in design research and human centred design.
• Excellent English language is a must.
• Basic graphic design skills and proficiency with the Adobe suite or other equivalent design software.
• Experience with humanitarian projects and/or education projects is not required but extremely valuable.
• Excellent design research skills and experience running a variety of design activities such as: qualitative data collections, methodical observations, prototyping, co-creation sessions, design workshops etc.
• Incredible team collaboration skills; comfort working with researchers, 
beneficiaries, teachers, and communications staff.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, able to communicate with colleagues in person and through digital means, on all levels in a distributed, multicultural professional environment.
• Experience in supervising others, in delivering trainings or teaching design concepts is not essential but would be highly valuable.