Institutional Affiliation
University for Peace
Start Date
January 2026
End Date
January 2026
Proposal Type
Presentation
Proposal Format
On-campus
Proposal Description
Many organizations aiming to achieve peace and health equity outcomes often focus their design processes and innovation efforts externally without addressing how their organizational culture can unintentionally reproduce the very harms they are trying to address. The purpose of this qualitative design research study is to explore the role of a design justice framework in piloting a Peace Innovation Project aimed at facilitating an organizational culture change process. Specifically, the study focuses on better understanding how integrating a design justice approach could support research collaborators to center equity and justice as core components in building a culture of peace and wellbeing within their organization. The research partner, Green String Network (GSN), is a non-profit focused on healing-centered peacebuilding. The project supported the design of GSN’s scale-up process to build Ustawi (“to thrive” in Swahili), a peace-technology and digital mental health and entrepreneurship platform for youth and women in East Africa. The multi-phase methodology integrates design justice as a theoretical framework. Data collection methods included unstructured interviews, co-creation workshops, un/focus groups, participant observation, and digital illustration. Methods of data analysis included narrative content analysis, insight generation, and experience mapping. The story of the co-design process is a research output depicted via the data visualization, “Peace and Healing: Our collaboration story”. Findings demonstrate the utility of the framework to support change processes, strengthen relationships, foster trust, and build community - when intertwined with embodiment practices centered on relationships to people and place. Research contributions include theoretical knowledge on design justice as a guiding framework, methodology, and consultative tool to support design processes, and actionable recommendations to inform interdisciplinary collaboration and policymaking in and beyond the peace and health sectors.
Keywords: peace innovation, health equity, design, culture change, organizational development
Included in
Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Illustration Commons, International Relations Commons, Leadership Commons, Nonprofit Administration and Management Commons, Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons, Organization Development Commons, Other International and Area Studies Commons, Other Political Science Commons, Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons, Peace and Conflict Studies Commons, Political Theory Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Social Justice Commons, Technology and Innovation Commons
Peace Innovation and Healing: A design justice framework to support change processes, strengthen relationships, foster trust, and build community
Many organizations aiming to achieve peace and health equity outcomes often focus their design processes and innovation efforts externally without addressing how their organizational culture can unintentionally reproduce the very harms they are trying to address. The purpose of this qualitative design research study is to explore the role of a design justice framework in piloting a Peace Innovation Project aimed at facilitating an organizational culture change process. Specifically, the study focuses on better understanding how integrating a design justice approach could support research collaborators to center equity and justice as core components in building a culture of peace and wellbeing within their organization. The research partner, Green String Network (GSN), is a non-profit focused on healing-centered peacebuilding. The project supported the design of GSN’s scale-up process to build Ustawi (“to thrive” in Swahili), a peace-technology and digital mental health and entrepreneurship platform for youth and women in East Africa. The multi-phase methodology integrates design justice as a theoretical framework. Data collection methods included unstructured interviews, co-creation workshops, un/focus groups, participant observation, and digital illustration. Methods of data analysis included narrative content analysis, insight generation, and experience mapping. The story of the co-design process is a research output depicted via the data visualization, “Peace and Healing: Our collaboration story”. Findings demonstrate the utility of the framework to support change processes, strengthen relationships, foster trust, and build community - when intertwined with embodiment practices centered on relationships to people and place. Research contributions include theoretical knowledge on design justice as a guiding framework, methodology, and consultative tool to support design processes, and actionable recommendations to inform interdisciplinary collaboration and policymaking in and beyond the peace and health sectors.
Keywords: peace innovation, health equity, design, culture change, organizational development