SMART START GOES DIGITAL: ENHANCING THE SMART START EXPERIENCE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
While digital penetration is low in Ethiopia compared to other countries in the region, the country is expected to undergo a rapid digital transformation. In 2021, Ethiopia officially started opening the telecom sector to private providers, which will have a catalytic effect on the expansion of digitalization. PSI-Ethiopia is prepared to act on this opportunity by developing digital applications that meet clients’ health needs and speak to their circumstances.
SMART START GOES DIGITAL
Smart Start, the much-loved and tested family planning counseling tool developed for rural adolescent girls in Ethiopia is going digital. In line with the Federal Ministry of Health’s (FMOH) prioritization of digital health solutions, PSI-Ethiopia gives Smart Start a facelift to enhance the client experience in new and interactive ways.
The digitization of Smart Start aims to identify and solve communication and operational challenges that Smart Start Navigators (SSNs), Health Extension Workers (HEWs), and clients face when using Smart Start. Digitization provides an opportunity to deliver content interactively and engagingly. It also creates consistency in providing quality information messages on Family Planning.
LEVELING UP
The project takes immense pride in Smart Start’s thoughtful and user-informed design and influential design details. The digitization process aims to keep and enhance the following design details.
PERSONALIZED
The Smart Start approach ensures girls feel that they are seen and heard. The Smart Start digital application uses an avatar representing the client and her family. The avatar personalizes the girl’s experience as she goes through each step, including prompts based on her individual needs and circumstances. For example, it prompts all the Smart Start Navigators to focus the counseling session on specific areas of the girl’s needs.
ENGAGING & INTERACTIVE
Like the manual version, the Smart Start digital application guides the client through a counseling session on the importance of planning her familyto reach her goals.
VISUAL DESIGN
The Smart Start app was designed for rural, low-literacy, and illiterate users. It uses visual, video, and audio content assessed with the target audience and can be understood regardless of literacy levels.
HUSBAND ENGAGEMENT
The Smart Start app can be used in an individual session or with couples. The app models positive husband behaviors and helps girls start a conversation on the importance of planning their family with their husbands.
AMPLIFYING SMART START
The Smart Start app leverages and amplifies existing Smart Start content through videos, quizzes, and activities. Additional personalized family planning content helps girls leave the session feeling informed and confident.
DESIGNING SMART START 2.0
INSIGHT GATHERING, IDEATION & PROTOTYPING
After conducting a desk review of program documents and interviewing the Smart Start team to gather inputs and suggestions, the design team gathered insights from users in the field to understand the client, HEWs, and SSN’s experience with Smart Start counseling. This insight gathering helped find critical motivators and barriers to delivering high-quality Smart Start counseling and mapping user journeys to identify pain points. As a result, several intervention design opportunities emerged categorized into three buckets.
The design team developed three prototypes to address the identified pain points. The prototypes drew inspiration and learning from PSI-Tanzania’s Mjanja Connect and the Counseling for Choice method. Mjanja Connect is an interactive tablet-based technology driven by girls’ insights and delivered by educators at the helm of mobilizing girls to care. Mjanja Connect provides a new way of reaching girls with SRH information and tracking how and when they engage with the health clinic for contraceptive services. Whereas counseling for choice method is Counseling for Choice (C4C), an evidence-based approach to contraceptive counseling aimed at supporting clients in choosing which method is suitable for them. C4C was developed as a solution to address many of the root causes of the unmet need for contraception and discontinuation among users who still wish to prevent pregnancy. In addition, C4C aims to change how providers and clients participate in voluntary family planning (FP) counseling discussions — ensuring that clients can use their voice, choice, and agency to make the contraceptive choices that meet their needs.
Prototypes were evaluated with users to refine these concepts and define a product for development. The PSI-Ethiopia team worked with a creative communication agency to develop screen designs and multi-media content. Furthermore, the App development team created a simple consumer-facing app and analytics. User acceptance testing was done after the app’s minimum viable product (MVP) was developed to identify any challenges or required changes to app functionality, features, and contents.
THE APP: WELCOME TO SMART START!
FLEXIBLE & ADAPTIVE
The app is flexible and adapted for diverse types of users to ensure users get the information that is most relevant to them. The app is designed for the following users:
- Individual girls & couples
- New & returning Smart Start users
- Satisfied & unsatisfied FP users
- Non-users of FP
NEXT STEPS
Feedback has been provided following the user acceptance testing to revise some features and content and build in some additional features. In addition, an updated version of the app is being developed along with app analytics dashboards and templates. A live pilot will be conducted from June through July 2022 after releasing the updated app. The pilot will aim to measure acceptance, satisfaction, usability, and the impact of using the app compared to the manual Smart Start tools.
