We combine research, human-centred design, social and behaviour change, and systems thinking to help organisations solve complex social and environmental challenges across the Global South.
For 18 years we've built the most decentralised community of 250+ innovation specialists in 62 countries across Africa, Latin America, South Asia and the Middle East. The people who design with your users are from the same communities.
Local design researchers cut through language barriers, cultural nuance, and field logistics that outsiders miss. Empathy isn't a workshop technique when it's your community.
Multiple rounds of user testing without multi-week logistics. Minimal travel, minimal CO₂, maximal iteration. Prototypes return to the field in days, not months.
We combine human-centred design, systems thinking, futures foresight, business modelling and behavioural insights to co-create life-centred, community-led innovations, designed for self-sustainability and scale within the wider ecosystem.
For every project we assemble a tailored team from our vetted network of native innovation & design professionals. No two projects draw the same team, but every team has access to our shared knowledge base and past project experience from across the world.
We serve NGOs, social enterprises and governments to design impactful solutions for low-income communities with the local innovation experts who live and work in those communities.
Challenge funds and impact investors bring us in to support the companies and innovators they back. Design research, field testing, and HCD coaching that reduces adoption risk and builds capacity that outlasts the investment.
See how we work as a TA partner →We work alongside grantees and competition finalists to sharpen their user understanding, test assumptions in the field, and build HCD capacity that lasts beyond the programme.
We help portfolio companies understand the people they are designing for, reduce adoption risk, and generate the user evidence that supports scale.
We work across the sectors where social and environmental innovation is most urgently needed, helping partners move from field research to prototypes, business models and scalable solutions.
We help health actors design, test and scale services, tools and care pathways that work for frontline providers, women, girls and underserved communities.
We support communities, NGOs and funders to co-create practical solutions for climate risk, disaster preparedness, agricultural resilience and just transitions.
We design inclusive services, behaviour-change tools and co-innovation processes that strengthen nutrition, food access and social protection systems.
We help young people, social businesses and entrepreneurship programmes move from ideas to tested models, viable ventures and scalable impact.
We design and test digital tools, platforms and AI-enabled services that are usable, inclusive and grounded in real-world constraints.
We work in fragile and crisis-affected settings to prototype services, tools and delivery models that improve safety, dignity and access.
The Proportion Global team has been a reliable and engaged partner, bringing valuable perspectives and practical insights to the project at every step, HCD, stakeholder engagement, user research.
A 30-minute discovery call is the fastest way to find out whether we're the right team. No pitch, no pressure. We'll listen, share honestly whether we can help, and follow up with a written proposal if there's a fit.
