LocationsBuilding Bridges Through Technology and Community Work
July 4, 2025
RBLAC experimenters united in Bhutan, sharing experiences and generating mutual learning to rekindle our mission of promoting an evidence-based experimental mindset into sustainable development.
My journey to becoming a Head of Experimentation and Digital Innovation Specialist at UNDP began, improbably enough, with a childhood fascination with broken radios and electronic devices. Growing up in Luque, Paraguay, I would spend hours taking apart electronics to understand how they worked, much to my parents' frustration when their appliances mysteriously stopped working.
This curiosity led me to study electronics in high school, and computer engineering at the National University of Asunción, where I discovered how technology can help us solve complex problems. While still at University, I worked as a software developer, building systems for the University. And, while I enjoyed the technical challenges, finding clever ways to work out complicated specs into code, I often found myself wondering about the human side of tech: Who was I really building this for? How and when were they using it? Did it really help or was I giving them more work to do?
A Shift Toward Human-Centered Technology
Fast forward a few years, the opportunity came to pursue a PhD in Computer Science, specializing in Social Informatics and Human-Computer Interaction, in Trento, Italy. At the beginning, I was still highly focused on the computer side of systems, but halfway through my PhD, my advisor reached out and said: "Cristhian, I no longer think your topic is of interest. From now on, I want to study happiness, and how technology can make us all live fuller lives. Care to join me?"
This challenge led me to a 360-degree shift in my career, from one overtly focused on technology, to one more deeply connected to people and their needs. I started to do ethnographic research in Trento’s senior centers, where I spent over a year helping older adults interact with technology, observing their struggles with all sorts of information and communication technologies, including a supposedly user-friendly app I had helped design. It was a humbling experience that exposed the pitfalls of assuming we understand users' needs without listening to them first.
What started as ethnographic work became a participatory design experience. Spending years co-designing technology with older adults transformed my understanding of research, design and innovation. I learned that no matter how elegant the code, how interesting the tech, how transformative the solution, it is meaningless if it doesn’t start with the needs, prioritizing the lived experiences of real people. This lesson now guides my work every day.
Starting another year of the Public Innovators Program. Engaging with our partners in capacity building journeys has been on the top of my list of deeply rewarding experiences.
Returning to Paraguay: A New Path with UNDP
After earning my PhD, I spent some years as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, studying and designing systems to advance participatory democracy and community health initiatives. I eventually returned to Paraguay, eager to apply my research to real-world challenges in my home country as an applied design research scholar. This career path, however, felt limited, and I found myself searching for a way to create tangible change. That search led me to the UNDP Accelerator Lab, a global network designed to rethink development challenges through experimentation and collaborative problem-solving.
Each lab is a small applied and participatory R&D unit, functioning as a testing ground for innovative approaches, bringing together governments, communities, and international partners to co-design and scale solutions for urgent social and environmental issues, such as improving public services, addressing climate change, or enhancing governance. And all of this while generating actionable evidence about what works, and what doesn’t, for human development. This ecosystem of experimentation not only identifies what works at the local level but also helps transform successful ideas into scalable solutions with global impact, through a network of more than 90 similar teams around the globe.
Intrigued by its mission to drive sustainable development through innovation, I remember applying for all of its three open positions, only to be surprised when I qualified for every single one. I ultimately chose the role that seemed personally most challenging and best aligned with my own identity and passion for socio-technical community solutions: the role of the Experimenter.
Transitioning from academia to UNDP was a defining moment in my career. Moving beyond a more rigorous type of research work to a more applied and pragmatic one, I found myself immersed in real-world problem-solving, where community needs and systemic constraints shape every initiative. Adapting to this new environment required me to bridge my analytical background with a more hands-on approach.
The Accelerator lab onboarding boot camp in Rwanda introduced me to a dynamic global network of changemakers, showing me the power of collaboration in tackling development challenges. Working at UNDP has given me a profound sense of belonging to a global community driven by purpose.
Driving Impact Through Innovation
One of our first projects focused on recycling, but soon after, the pandemic disrupted our plans. Adapting quickly, we developed rapid funding proposals to address COVID-19, an experience that highlighted the importance of agility and resilience.
One of the first impactful activities that I contributed to was a participatory mapping and social articulation initiative called Wendá, which emerged during the pandemic. Prior to the formation of the lab in 2019, I had already established a relationship with people in the Government of Paraguay that were leading the National Strategy of Innovation, which played a significant role in shaping the direction of this initiative. We had the opportunity to contribute to their participatory planning process and they later used Wendá as the first enabler of their strategy. Wenda’s core objective was to make citizen initiatives visible, and collective action to address the immediate challenges posed by the pandemic. Through participatory workshops, we engaged social organizations and local communities in shaping the platform itself and coordinate pandemic-related responses, ensuring that critical efforts were not siloed but instead connected in a way that maximized collective impact. With time, the initiative evolved to become a place where different social innovation processes hosted part of their activities, adapting quickly to the emerging needs of the time. It was incredibly rewarding to work with the diversity of people that crossed paths through this. It reinforced my belief in the power of inclusive collaboration, especially during times of crisis.
To prototype and test, once and again, has been the hallmark of our work in the lab. We learn continuously when we test, fail, redesign and test again.
Another milestone that I’m proud of was my contribution to the Public Innovators Program. This capacity-building initiative was designed to empower government officials with the skills and knowledge needed to lead innovative efforts in public service. We focused on training civil servants in human-centered design, equipping them with tools to research, design and develop pilot projects that addressed pressing public service and policy challenges. The success of this program, which gained traction and secured funding from multiple partners, has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my journey within UNDP. It made me realize that the capacities we were bringing to the organization were needed across the system, and to develop them had the potential of creating a ripple effect that would lead to more sustainable, citizen-driven solutions. One last culminating rewarding moment happened during a detail assignment in Bhutan. I was tasked with coordinating and co-facilitating one of the Accelerator Lab’s codification fests, which gave me the chance of working closely with experimenters in the network in identifying and documenting our shared practices. This assignment gave me a deep sense of connection and purpose as I engaged directly with colleagues from all over the world and helped foster a strong collaborative spirit. At the end of our week together, the Prime Minister visited us and delivered an inspiring speech about the importance of local knowledge in the international cooperation system. Since I had taken on a leading role throughout the event, all eyes turned to me when he finished speaking, expecting a response. I stood up and, in the moment, delivered a brief but impactful reply. The positive feedback from my colleagues, especially the head of the lab who told me my remarks were “so on point,” was incredibly rewarding, and it not only deepened my connection with my peers but also reinforced the value of grassroot innovation and the participatory approaches we were championing through our work, reminding me of the power of community engagement and cultural sensitivity.
The journey started here, in Kigali, together with other labbers around the world, learning the tools of the trade to integrate applied and participatory research, design and innovation into sustainable development.
Embracing Challenges and Lifelong Learning
Looking back to these years at UNDP, I can now see how my background as an academic researcher has significantly enriched my work by giving me a solid foundation in research, design, and innovation methodologies, critical thinking, and evidence-based problem-solving. The ability to analyze complex social issues through the lens of technology and innovation has been invaluable in navigating development challenges.
At the same time, these 5 years at UNDP meant for me to go deep into themes that were foreign to me, coming from a more technology-focused career. Each new challenge brought a lifelong learning opportunity to me, and this was one of the most exciting parts of my time at UNDP. In the past 2 years, however, I started to transition back into the technology-intensive themes, as I became the Digital Advocate of our country office, allowing me to reconnect with my technical roots, crafting initiatives that harness technology for social good, integrating global capacity building offerings, like the Digital Fitness Program and the Data to Policy Workshop into the mix of training programs we facilitate for staff and government officials.
So many other experiences shaped my journey during these 5 years. Collaborating with informal waste pickers in Asunción through participatory design in inclusive recycling projects. Leading participatory research with informal workers in the construction and textile industries. Facilitating research and design of initiatives with university students and local communities in social innovation challenges. Working with MSMEs of diverse sectors and territories to develop their productivity and digital maturity. Throughout my journey, I’ve learned that real impact comes from immersing oneself in the communities we serve. Whether working alongside informal waste pickers or facilitating co-creation workshops, understanding people’s lived experiences is crucial for meaningful change. Every single activity in the learning portfolio we built was a deeply rewarding experience that changed me forever (for the better).
One of my proudest moments was seeing how one of the initiatives we championed, supporting MSMEs in their digital transformation, adopted a portfolio approach and evolved into a national program through partnerships with organizations like IADB (Inter-American Development Bank) and the Industry and Commerce Ministry, all aligning their expertise and resources towards the same objective and approach to develop the digital maturity of small businesses. I also feel particularly proud of the role I had the opportunity to play in an environmental initiative of our CO that promoted and strengthened a group of informal waste collectors, leading to a successful pilot for differentiated waste collection in our city. Witnessing these local efforts, and the learnings they generated, scale into larger systemic change or inspire new projects and interventions, has been deeply fulfilling.
A moment of connection: 50+ experimenters from all over the world, gathering in Bhutan to reflect about the practices that defined our work in these 5 years journey to integrate R&D more deeply within UNDP actions for development.
Looking Ahead: A Commitment to Innovation and Impact
As I reflect on this journey, from dismantling broken radios in Luque to standing before the Prime Minister of Bhutan, I realize that my path has never been a straight line. It has been shaped by curiosity, by moments of doubt, by unexpected detours, and by the belief that technology should serve people, not the other way around.
What excites me most about the future is the unknown. The problems we face as a global community are complex, but I have seen firsthand how research, development and innovation, when rooted in human connection and experiences, can drive real change. Whether it’s empowering informal waste collectors, mentoring young students, or collaborating with policymakers, I have learned that solutions don’t emerge from algorithms alone, they emerge from listening, from experimenting, and from embracing the messy, unpredictable nature of real-world challenges.
For young professionals aspiring to make an impact, my advice is simple: say yes. Say yes to challenges that scare you, to opportunities that push you beyond your expertise, to the chance to make a difference, however small it may seem. Because often, it’s those small, unexpected moments that lead to the biggest transformations.
As I continue my work with UNDP, I carry with me the stories of the people I’ve met, the lessons learned in the field, and the belief that technology, when designed and wielded with empathy and purpose, can help build a more just, sustainable, and inclusive world. The journey is far from over, if anything, it’s only just beginning.
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