Overview
This tool is a collaborative project by Fòs Feminista and the Sexual Rights Initiative.
It aims to facilitate access for advocates and delegates to UN intergovernmental resolutions, expert guidance, and technical information in order to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights at the global level and hold governments accountable for their international obligations and commitments.
This project is really close to my heart because we grew together. My first encounter with it was in 2012 when they hired me to do data entry. From there, the tool has seen three iterations and I’ve changed roles overtime.
The first version of the tool only showed terms. It was closed to the public and English was the only language. Since then, the tool has been improved to hold several languages, a powerful database and search engine, and also include regional resolutions and documents. It is now open for everyone.
The look of the tool has also evolved with it. Below, you can find screenshots of how it looked in its previous version.
I will focus on the last iteration, a rebuild done in 2020-2021, although the relationship with the client continued until 2023.
Roles
Discovery
Information Architecture
User Experience Design
Usability Testing
Project Management
Content Management
Date
2013 - 2023
Tools
Balsamiq, Scapple, Google Forms, Zoom, WebAIM.
Teammates
Noel Rivas (IA, Systems architecture, Dev) , Josué Martín (Frontend), Tocho Macías (UI Designer).
2012-2013
2014-2020
App version (2015-2019)
Process
The project kicked-off with discovery sessions, which led to an audiences and goals document, our beacon for the project. I helped defined user stories, which allowed the information architecture and systems architecture teams to plan what was best.
One of the key changes of the tool from the previous version was to make a more robust search and to reframe it as a database, more than just a website. Giving the same importance to the two main sections was important:
● The searchable database of adopted intergovernmental documents and of expert guidance related to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
● The curated list of key sexual and reproductive health and rights terms with selected examples of agreed language and additional guidance, definitions and resources.
All the above, along with the experience I had with the tool over the years, informed my wireframes for the project.
User stories
As a researcher, I need to be able to search agreed language and find the paragraphs and source documents that are more relevant to my query so that I can find references to issues, to help demonstrate that there is a previous consensus.
___________
As a researcher, I need to understand clearly what parts of the site are curated by Fós and the SRI, and what tools are free search of the database to avoid confusion on what is just agreed language in the database and what is a product of the work of the organizations.
Digital Wireframes
Content management: a challenge
The content of this tool is complex. There are key terms that contain a glossary, a list of curated paragraphs from resolutions and additional documents. But the paragraphs can be present in more than one term and they also need to be available in the search.
The tool was originally developed in Drupal. As the amount of content grew and the relations between each piece of content became complex, the development team decided to migrate, on this last iteration, to a system based in Laravel with Airtable holding the documents and paragraphs.
I created a content flow diagram to help the client understand the new structure. I also aided the systems architecture team to understand the relations between each piece of content.
Content flow
Content relations
It was an important challenge to audit the existing content, decide with the stakeholders what needed to be migrated and what was to be discarded and to plan for the data entry on the new tools. After I established a plan with them, I supervised the data entry process.
Throughout the process, I conducted several rounds of quality assurance. My keen eye to detail was instrumental in making sure the tool fulfilled the goals we set out to accomplish.
When the tool was ready, I wrote the users’ manual and trained the pertinent staff members.
After training, I collaborated with the client to test the usability of the website on a live workshop and received feedback.
Final outcome and aftermath
We got to launch the tool at a virtual event that the clients organized with three distinguished guest panelists:
H.E. Ms. Monique T.G. van Daalen, Ambassador
Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations in Geneva.
Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations in Geneva.
Melissa Upreti
Vice-Chair, UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls, Human Rights Council
Vice-Chair, UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls, Human Rights Council
Dr. Alma Virginia (Vicky) Camacho-Hubner
Regional Technical Adviser in Sexual and Reproductive Health, UNFPA Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
Regional Technical Adviser in Sexual and Reproductive Health, UNFPA Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
The tool continues to be used to prepare and hold discussions related to sexual and reproductive health and rights at events such as CPD, CSW and UPR, both in New York and Geneva headquarters. It accomplished the goal of supporting the work that takes place in the context of negotiation through the provision of relevant information, thanks to a well-design user experience.
Homepage
Term details
One of the search forms available in the tool.
Results of an Agreed Language search.
