KIT INSTITUTE &CORDAIDIn February 2018, I was hired to support KIT and Cordaid in the development of a serious game for learning. The team wished to design an interactive way to teach students about the pitfalls and challenges of designing and implementing programmes in fragile contexts. Fragile settings in this context refers to countries where systems are not functioning adequately to safeguard populations health, safety and security. The game took the topic of HIV prevention as a central point, and asked players to design and implement a programme while facing increasingly significant challenges in different arenas.
The game
The output: a blended learning tool in the form of a game - which can be played either fully face-to-face or online. Roles were designed based on stakeholder positions involved in service design and delivery, including positions in (I)NGOs, government and community. An online environment leads players through a series of decisions, which prompts characters to deliberate using role play. Challenge cards - on topics such as security, lack of access to reliable infrastructure and the outcomes of erosions in community trust - are handed out to encourage experiential learning to gain an understanding of the complexity of working within a fragile setting.
The game is now played regularly as a component of KIT’s health education’s programmes, including at master’s level. It featured in the International Aids conference, hosted in Amsterdam, 2018. It is still available to be played, facilitated by KIT for a fee.
The collaboration and my role
The project was a collaboration between an international humanitarian organisation, Cordaid’s programme department and KIT, a knowledge institute, formerly known as the Royal Tropical Institute. Cordaid is an internationally operating emergency relief and development organisation, working in and on fragility, and the KIT Institute is an independent knowledge institute. The work of their experts focuses on global health, gender equality and sustainable economic development. The institute offers various courses, including a Master’s programme in Public Health.
My role started as an internship position, but I later was hired as a consultant. The game was designed over a four month period in collaboration with a researcher on decision-making in fragile contexts, a programme advisor from Cordaid, and supported by an instructional learning designer. I supported in all areas of the game design and execution from start to finish.