Participatory Design for Infrastructure Delivery in the African Context

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) delivers sustainable, locally responsive infrastructure and project management services worldwide, working alongside governments, donors, and local stakeholders. To improve service delivery outcomes by more deeply integrating beneficiary needs into its project approach, UNOPS engaged the Capstone team to develop practical guidance for embedding participatory design across its infrastructure portfolio in Africa. The team conducted a targeted literature review, interviewed UNOPS architects and project managers, and visited active infrastructure projects in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to observe how participatory design is applied in practice. The research found that participatory design is most effective not as a discrete intervention but as a continuous process embedded across all project phases — one that sustains alignment between UNOPS teams and beneficiaries from design through handover. The team's findings are captured in a best practices report, a practical guidance document designed specifically for UNOPS practitioners, and a final presentation delivered to UNOPS stakeholders outlining key insights from the guidance report.