News
Kozo Girls, a Pact pilot that provides reusable pads & economic opportunities in Zambia, comes into its own
February 13, 2019
‘Kozo Girls’ provides reusable pads and economic opportunities for young women in Zambia. What began as a Pact pilot supported by USAID is blossoming into an independent social enterprise.
Former USAID chief innovation officer visits Pact to discuss social sector impact
January 25, 2019
Pact recently welcomed former USAID chief innovation officer Ann Mei Chang to discuss innovation, maximizing impact in the social sector and her new book, Lean Impact.
Watch a full recording of the...
Why customer insight is crucial in the fight against HIV: What I shared at AIDS 2018
August 8, 2018
The global development community has long referred to the people and institutions we serve as our beneficiaries. In truth, they’re also our partners and customers. That last word might sound a bit...
Show me the money? Not necessarily: Lessons learned from building an innovation practice at a global nonprofit
June 27, 2018
When Pact, a Washington, D.C.-based global nonprofit founded in 1971, first invested in innovation in fall 2013, we looked to determine whether we could institute a dedicated innovation team to...
The ghosts of user-centered design
August 30, 2017
Sitting in the Cambodian humidity, in an open-air council hall in Pursat with storm clouds rolling in the distance, I had to wonder if I would have found myself here were it not for the concept of...
5 lessons from a conversation with USAID’s chief of design innovation
December 22, 2016
Innovation is a nebulous topic that often means 20 different things to 20 different people. This week, Pact hosted Seema Patel, Chief of Design Innovation at USAID’s Global Development Lab, for an...
At MIT design summit in Zambia, real design with real people
November 22, 2016
What if world-leading organizations teamed up to develop and scale technology and business solutions to end global poverty? This question, currently on the MIT Practical Impact Alliance (PIA)...
Local solutions in action: How Pact is using human-centered design to act on beneficiary feedback
November 2, 2016
One of Pact’s core values is local solutions. In short, this means we believe that true success can only come from solutions created in partnership with the people we serve.
It’s why Pact’s...
100 million ideas for $100 million
October 12, 2016
Like many nonprofits around the world, Pact buzzed with excitement around the release of the MacArthur 100&Change competition in the spring of 2016. The MacArthur Foundation was offering an...
It’s not Design Thinking. It’s Design Doing.
August 11, 2016
Anyone working in international development will tell you that it is critical to make the voice, needs and desires of your beneficiaries the core of every project. Development uses a number of...