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Innovation & Design Agency

The world's most decentralised innovation & design agency.

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.

Live network  ·  62 countries · 4 continents
250+
Local HCD experts
62
Countries covered
4
Continents served
Trusted by partners who change lives
Plan International·IRC·Oxfam·GIZ·GAIN·USAID·Challenge Works·SNV·Girl Effect·Palladium·Pact· Plan International·IRC·Oxfam·GIZ·GAIN·USAID·Challenge Works·SNV·Girl Effect·Palladium·Pact·
Why Proportion

We don't fly in designers. We already live there.

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.

01 / Rooted

Native innovation & design experts who understand context from lived experience.

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.

02 / Close

Proximity means faster, cheaper feedback cycles.

Multiple rounds of user testing without multi-week logistics. Minimal travel, minimal CO₂, maximal iteration. Prototypes return to the field in days, not months.

03 / Systemic

Design 2.0, beyond traditional HCD.

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.

The Network

One network. Four continents. Sixty-two countries.

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.

Proportion footprint 62 countries · 4 continents · 250+ local experts
Impact Areas

Where local insight meets global development priorities.

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.

01

Global Health & SRHR Innovation

We help health actors design, test and scale services, tools and care pathways that work for frontline providers, women, girls and underserved communities.

02

Climate Resilience & Adaptation

We support communities, NGOs and funders to co-create practical solutions for climate risk, disaster preparedness, agricultural resilience and just transitions.

03

Food Security, Nutrition & Social Protection

We design inclusive services, behaviour-change tools and co-innovation processes that strengthen nutrition, food access and social protection systems.

04

Youth Employment & Inclusive Entrepreneurship

We help young people, social businesses and entrepreneurship programmes move from ideas to tested models, viable ventures and scalable impact.

05

Digital Innovation, AI & Public Services

We design and test digital tools, platforms and AI-enabled services that are usable, inclusive and grounded in real-world constraints.

06

Humanitarian Innovation & Crisis Resilience

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.
AW
Anthony Wenndt
Social Protection Lead · GAIN
Co-Innovation Platform

The Innovators Team: a guided platform for co-innovation.

Built by Proportion Global and GAIN, The Innovators Team helps partners run innovation challenges, learning cohorts and communities of practice that continue beyond workshops, reports and funding cycles.

Explore our co-innovation platform
Let's talk

Have a challenge that needs the field?

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.

Book a discovery call

  • 30 minutes. No cost.
  • Direct with a senior HCD lead.
  • Written follow-up within 48 hours.
Schedule your call