Imagine.Namibia—A Human-Centred Approach to Enterprise Education

Clara Watkins; Joseph Venables; Judith Hall; Steve Gill; Dipanka Boruah

doi:10.1007/978-981-96-7308-7_5

Imagine.Namibia—A Human-Centred Approach to Enterprise Education

Clara Watkins^*
, Joseph Venables
, Judith Hall
, Steve Gill
, Dipanka Boruah

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

This paper presents the benefits of adopting a human-centred approach to tackling wicked problems, specifically youth unemployment and enterprise education for Namibia. The authors present the findings of a two-week field study conducted by an international team of designers and educators from the UK and Namibia. The paper describes the process followed and insights gained from a design project within the socioeconomic context of a country with one of the world's highest Gini coefficient and Palma ratio in the world.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Responsible and Resilient Design for Society, Volume 10 - Proceedings of ICoRD 2025
Editors	Amaresh Chakrabarti, Vishal Singh, Prasad S. Onkar, Mohammad Shahid
Publisher	Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages	47-58
Number of pages	12
ISBN (Print)	9789819673070
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-7308-7_5
Publication status	Published - 7 Nov 2025
Event	10th International Conference on Research into Design, ICoRD 2025 - Hyderabad, India Duration: 8 Jan 2025 → 10 Jan 2025

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering
ISSN (Print)	2195-4356
ISSN (Electronic)	2195-4364

Conference

Conference	10th International Conference on Research into Design, ICoRD 2025
Country/Territory	India
City	Hyderabad
Period	8/01/25 → 10/01/25

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

Keywords

Design thinking
Enterprise
Human-centered design
Wicked problems

Access to Document

10.1007/978-981-96-7308-7_5

Cite this

Watkins, C., Venables, J., Hall, J., Gill, S., & Boruah, D. (2025). Imagine.Namibia—A Human-Centred Approach to Enterprise Education. In A. Chakrabarti, V. Singh, P. S. Onkar, & M. Shahid (Eds.), Responsible and Resilient Design for Society, Volume 10 - Proceedings of ICoRD 2025 (pp. 47-58). (Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering). Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-7308-7_5

Watkins, Clara ; Venables, Joseph ; Hall, Judith et al. / Imagine.Namibia—A Human-Centred Approach to Enterprise Education. Responsible and Resilient Design for Society, Volume 10 - Proceedings of ICoRD 2025. editor / Amaresh Chakrabarti ; Vishal Singh ; Prasad S. Onkar ; Mohammad Shahid. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2025. pp. 47-58 (Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering).

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title = "Imagine.Namibia—A Human-Centred Approach to Enterprise Education",

abstract = "This paper presents the benefits of adopting a human-centred approach to tackling wicked problems, specifically youth unemployment and enterprise education for Namibia. The authors present the findings of a two-week field study conducted by an international team of designers and educators from the UK and Namibia. The paper describes the process followed and insights gained from a design project within the socioeconomic context of a country with one of the world's highest Gini coefficient and Palma ratio in the world.",

keywords = "Design thinking, Enterprise, Human-centered design, Wicked problems",

author = "Clara Watkins and Joseph Venables and Judith Hall and Steve Gill and Dipanka Boruah",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.; 10th International Conference on Research into Design, ICoRD 2025 ; Conference date: 08-01-2025 Through 10-01-2025",

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Watkins, C, Venables, J, Hall, J, Gill, S & Boruah, D 2025, Imagine.Namibia—A Human-Centred Approach to Enterprise Education. in A Chakrabarti, V Singh, PS Onkar & M Shahid (eds), Responsible and Resilient Design for Society, Volume 10 - Proceedings of ICoRD 2025. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering, Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, pp. 47-58, 10th International Conference on Research into Design, ICoRD 2025, Hyderabad, India, 8/01/25. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-7308-7_5

Imagine.Namibia—A Human-Centred Approach to Enterprise Education. / Watkins, Clara; Venables, Joseph; Hall, Judith et al.
Responsible and Resilient Design for Society, Volume 10 - Proceedings of ICoRD 2025. ed. / Amaresh Chakrabarti; Vishal Singh; Prasad S. Onkar; Mohammad Shahid. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2025. p. 47-58 (Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Imagine.Namibia—A Human-Centred Approach to Enterprise Education

AU - Watkins, Clara

AU - Venables, Joseph

AU - Hall, Judith

AU - Gill, Steve

AU - Boruah, Dipanka

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.

PY - 2025/11/7

Y1 - 2025/11/7

N2 - This paper presents the benefits of adopting a human-centred approach to tackling wicked problems, specifically youth unemployment and enterprise education for Namibia. The authors present the findings of a two-week field study conducted by an international team of designers and educators from the UK and Namibia. The paper describes the process followed and insights gained from a design project within the socioeconomic context of a country with one of the world's highest Gini coefficient and Palma ratio in the world.

AB - This paper presents the benefits of adopting a human-centred approach to tackling wicked problems, specifically youth unemployment and enterprise education for Namibia. The authors present the findings of a two-week field study conducted by an international team of designers and educators from the UK and Namibia. The paper describes the process followed and insights gained from a design project within the socioeconomic context of a country with one of the world's highest Gini coefficient and Palma ratio in the world.

KW - Design thinking

KW - Enterprise

KW - Human-centered design

KW - Wicked problems

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105022207131

U2 - 10.1007/978-981-96-7308-7_5

DO - 10.1007/978-981-96-7308-7_5

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:105022207131

SN - 9789819673070

T3 - Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering

SP - 47

EP - 58

BT - Responsible and Resilient Design for Society, Volume 10 - Proceedings of ICoRD 2025

A2 - Chakrabarti, Amaresh

A2 - Singh, Vishal

A2 - Onkar, Prasad S.

A2 - Shahid, Mohammad

PB - Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH

T2 - 10th International Conference on Research into Design, ICoRD 2025

Y2 - 8 January 2025 through 10 January 2025

ER -

Watkins C, Venables J, Hall J, Gill S, Boruah D. Imagine.Namibia—A Human-Centred Approach to Enterprise Education. In Chakrabarti A, Singh V, Onkar PS, Shahid M, editors, Responsible and Resilient Design for Society, Volume 10 - Proceedings of ICoRD 2025. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. 2025. p. 47-58. (Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering). doi: 10.1007/978-981-96-7308-7_5

Imagine.Namibia—A Human-Centred Approach to Enterprise Education

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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