Concevoir avec, et non pour : comment Human-Centred Design les pratiques de développement

How does development change when communities help shape the solutions meant for them? Designing With, Not For is the Aga Khan Foundation’s learning review of what happened when Human-Centred Design (HCD) was placed at the heart of the Local Impact programme (2020–2025) across the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. Drawing on 21 HCD projects—eight studied in depth—it distils how HCD reshaped mindsets, rekindled community agency, and built the trust and relationships that sustain change. Through field stories in early childhood development, women’s micro-entrepreneurship, youth-led agriculture, and climate-smart storage, it offers practitioners, funders, and designers a candid, evidence-based look at the promise—and the ethics—of designing with people, not for them.