Following my analysis of the user research results I have developed 4 personas representing different target users/beneficiaries of the my.coop training: the coop manager, the field worker, the professor and the director.

Each profile includes the job profile, technology access and training needs of each persona, which I'll now use to inform and inspire the concept generation process.

Above is a summary of the key insights that came out from the research phase, gained from the analysis of the user research results and the customer journey analysis.

Some suprising needs came out - not least of all the unanimous desire from participants to connect and share experiences with other coop stakeholders around the world.

During April and May I've been conducting interviews with potential participants of the My.COOP training by telephone and over Skype. More details of the methodology of this research and the full results are included in the doc above.

It has been one of the most enjoyable parts of the project so far, to speak to some really inspiring people in Africa doing great work. A huge thank you to those who took part, for your time and enthusiasm!

In total I spoke to 9 people in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania from different organisations within the coop sector at different levels of the My.COOP training pyramid.

Some very interesting results came out of this research, inspiring lots of new ideas for the project!

I'm working on a summary of the key insights from this research and persona profiles of the key users, will post them in the next few days!

The My.COOP users will also be ITC users, and whether their training takes place face-to-face in Turin or on the field; at a distance; or as part of a blended training experience; they should experience "the Turin learning approach" that the ITC always strives for.

So it also makes sense to carry out research with current ITC users and to understand their experience and needs.

On 17th March 2011 I had the great opportunity to attend the evaluation session of an interesting blended course ran by the Gender unit, called 'Capacity Building of Women for Gender Mainstreaming in Economic Development of Policies', which had 28 participants from West (Francophone) Africa.

As well as observing the formal evaluation session I was able to conduct my own interview with a group of 5 participants, you can read the results in the doc above.

Thanks to Paul, Azara, Haby, Adam and Telou for volunteering to speak to me and for sharing your insights!

The results of the 'Desk Research' part of the user research are mainly here on the blog already, so the first report I have written is for the 'Expert Interviews' track of the research.

The staff at the ITC/ILO have been a great help for me in understanding the ITC course participants and the African context, as they have a lot of experience both at the Turin centre and travelling in the field, where they have made their own observations over time.

From speaking to them (in particular, Tom Wambeke and Coumba Diop from the ITC and Carlien van Empel from the ILO in Geneva) I was able to form a basic profile of the target users of My.COOP, upon which I was able to formulate the next phases of the user research accordingly.

More details in the doc above and thanks to Tom, Coumba and Carlien for your support!

Understanding real user needs is one of the fundamental goals of the My.COOP Mobile project, in order to develop a service that is truly useful and offers added value.

However, in a user-centred design process ethnographic research would ideally be carried out in the field. In this project we have limited resources for doing that, and so I developed a methodology for the user research that allows us to draw conclusions not only from speaking to the target users of My.COOP but also comparable users, for example African professionals working in other contexts who have a similar lifestyle.

In the above overview you can see the different tracks of the user research that allow us to build a complete picture of the needs of a typical My.COOP user and get inspired for the 'Create' phase. As each track is completed I'll post the results here on the blog!

I am currently using elements of IDEO's human-centred design toolkit (an excellent and free resource) to develop my own user research methodology for the My.COOP Mobile project. For anyone working on social innovation/design for developing contexts this is a highly valuable resource, check it out:

The toolkit was designed specifically for NGOs and social enterprises that work with Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The kit walks users through the human-centered design process and supports them in activities such as building listening skills, running workshops, and implementing ideas. The process has led to innovations such as the HeartStart defibrillator, Cleanwell natural antibacterial products, and the Blood Donor System for the Red Cross - all of which have enhanced the lives of millions of people.

Thanks to Diego for bringing this toolkit to my attention a few months ago!

Download the toolkit here: http://www.ideo.com/work/human-centered-design-toolkit/