Clients and geographies

Our clients and collaborators included NGOs, entrepreneurs, governments, donors, research institutions and private companies.

In an ‘ecosystem’ approach, the different theories of change represented by these organisations reinforced and strengthened one another in advancing a healthier, more resilient world.

While proudly rooted in South Africa, Percept had a translocal network of partners, clients and collaborators. We were a remote-first organisation, with 
staff spread across geographies. Depending on location, we also offered in-person facilitation, thought partnership and strategic advisory.

Countries where we collaborated
with partners on projects included:

HEALTH

To co-create a healthier world, we collaborated with a diversity of health-sector providers, designers and users, on questions of health financing, health policy, health delivery, service experience, and deeper questions of care.

Our view of health did not preference physical health over other forms of health, did not preference individual health over collective health, and did not preference human health over more-than-human health: instead it recognised these as mutually constitutive. Because ill-health is often a symptom of underlying troubles in the social ecosystem, Percept was also engaged at the intersections of health and other sectors (including financial services, social security, and climate breakdown). We had a strong orientation towards understanding and improving collective value, and compassion-centred systems.

Costing, forecasting and planning for countries’ health workforce

Supporting research, design and testing for new service delivery models and policy approaches

Designing Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), product design and advisory support on implementation

Transdisciplinary policy and needs analysis to support Universal Health Coverage (UHC) strategy and financing

Using data to understand how, when, and where certain illnesses cluster and with what impacts

Transdisciplinary research to build theory, support advocacy, and advance best practice for health equity

Identifying levers for system change, and iterating best-practice for more equitable care systems

Transdisciplinary research on drivers of inequality in education, health, and livelihoods, particularly for youth, women and racialised people

Using data and research to support ECD financing, policy, and programming, and leverage ECD to break cycles of intergenerational inequality

Equity

Our work on equity was wide-ranging precisely because structural inequities affect almost every sphere of society and type of organisation. Our portfolio of work encompassed the application of systems thinking, the technical measurement of inequality, and tools for disrupting the patterns through which inequality replicates (through, for example, the health system, the education system, and economic structures).

Resilience

Our work on resilience applied technical skills to architecting sustainable cross-subsidies, intergenerational transfers, and the design of more inclusive financial services.

This was where we brought long-term thinking to bear, as well as systems thinking: recognising how patterns play out and how things are interconnected. Our climate work spoke directly to the resilience of the planet and how we navigate an increasingly uncertain world.

Understanding the health effects of rising temperature and other climate impacts; mapping the intersections between ecological and biological ill-health

Research to support a just transition to low carbon futures; reimagining impact and value in light of planetary interdependencies

Modelling and analysis to inform design, pricing, and user experience of health and social insurance products

Analysis and modelling for equitable resource allocation

Support organisational strengthening, impact evaluation, and strategy for shifting complex systems