Co-Creating Inclusive Nutrition Services Across Pakistan’s Food Distribution Networks

Project start date: 01/12/2024

Project end date: 31/05/2025

Situation

In Pakistan, Food Distribution Networks (FDNs) serve vulnerable communities with free meals, yet systemic barriers restrict women’s access and compromise nutritional standards. Entrenched gender norms, logistical hurdles, and inconsistent meal quality limit the dignity and impact of these vital services.

Assignment

GAIN commissioned Proportion Global to lead a participatory design process across six FDNs in Lahore and Faisalabad. The mandate: improve women’s inclusion and elevate the nutritional value of meals through community-led innovation.

Approach

Using Proportion’s decentralized, human-centered design process, local FDN teams co-created solutions through immersive phases—Listen, Ideate, and Test. Community members and FDN staff jointly mapped service journeys, prioritized challenges, and prototyped concepts. Iterative workshops and remote testing ensured each idea was grounded in real needs and operational feasibility.

service idea illustrations

Results

Five impactful service prototypes emerged, including cooking clinics, etiquette sermons, and gender-sensitive signage. The approach deepened local ownership, built institutional capacity, and surfaced scalable innovations. These solutions now guide GAIN’s funding strategy and inspire wider systemic shifts in inclusive food security.

This project was commissioned by Proportion Global for client, GAIN and performed by Thomas, Ayesha, Aqib, Faiza and Abiha all members of the Proportion Global community. If you’ve enjoyed reading this case and want to dive deeper, we’d love to hear from you and we will connect you with relevant designers like the team, who worked on this project Contact Us