Teaching Service Design
in Nairobi

Client

SEI, UN Women och Rockefeller foundation

As part of a capacity-building initiative funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and UN Women, Expedition Mondial designed and delivered an intensive course in Customer Journey Mapping at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology (JKUAT) in Nairobi. The program equipped master students with practical tools to understand user needs and design solutions grounded in real contexts.

CHALLANGE

The ambition was to strengthen students’ ability to integrate customer perspectives into product, service, and system development. Beyond theory, the course aimed to provide hands-on methods for collecting, visualizing, and communicating insights, enabling future agricultural experts to create solutions that are both desirable and contextually relevant.

INSIGHTS

To truly build capability, learning needed to go beyond lectures. The key insight was that students must “learn by doing”, working on real-life challenges, reflecting on their process, and adapting methods to their own professional contexts. Creating a collaborative learning environment was essential to deepen understanding and ownership of the tools.

IMPLEMENTATION

The week-long course was open to 24 master students but attracted 30 highly motivated participants. After a theoretical introduction to service design and Customer Journey Mapping (CJM), students worked in groups on real-life cases such as public transportation and services.
Moderated and coached by Expedition Mondial, students conducted user research, analyzed qualitative data, and translated insights into journey maps and opportunity areas.

Reflection sessions were integrated throughout the week, encouraging peer learning and discussions on how to adapt the methods to different sectors and lines of work. 

RESULT  

Thirty students completed the course with practical, customized tools for understanding and working with customer needs in their future careers. Four students were invited to join a field study conducted by Expedition Mondial and Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), mapping the system, challenges, and opportunities of women mango farmers. This extended their hands-on experience in service design research and strengthened their ability to translate user insights into future scenarios.

The program resulted in a deep, practice-based introduction to service design and contributed to long-term capacity building within the university context.

What did the students think?

It was a new, interesting and creative way of looking for solutions with the customer/user at the forefront. The colorful post-its were an added bonus for me, made me feel really creative!
- Daisy Otieno, Master Student, JKUAT

The new concept of CJM design is a simpler and artistic way of carrying out research, continuous practice in art and design leads to perfection. I understand now that customers perceive different experiences under similar subjects.
- Tirra Amos, Master Student, JKUAT

I enjoyed the interactions because they increased my confidence when dealing with other people!
- Erastus Kiko, Master Student, JKUAT

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