The Challenge

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed and exacerbated intense stressors on health systems and public health institutions around the world. In the face of this, even people and organizations dedicated to compassionate service experience burnout and disillusionment. This is especially true for health service delivery organizations in resource-limited settings, where human suffering and its causes are severe and complex. To sustain compassionate motivation and purpose in these settings, it is crucial to identify barriers to compassion and design initiatives to strengthen compassionate responses.

Taking Action

Beginning in 2023, Humaniterra collaborated with the Focus Area for Compassion and Ethics (FACE) to answer the question: How might we strengthen the compassionate structure and systems of health organizations and nurture compassionate engagement with those they serve?

In this two-year project, Humaniterra pioneered a novel initiative: using human-centered design to support and nurture organizational compassion in health service delivery. After FACE selected Nama Wellness Community Health Centre in Uganda and Safari Doctors in Kenya, Humaniterra has been accompanying them on a journey to design, test, and iterate interventions to elevate an organizational culture of compassion. Not only are the prototypes developed through human-centered design embedding compassion more fully into the systems and practices of these organizations—the process itself is contributing to these ends.

“This is very different from how we used to solve problems. Everyone is feeling like they are a part of the solution.” - Augustine Musulwa, Finance and Admin Manager, Safari Doctors