Pathways is a global initiative that applies a vulnerability approach to population segmentation. Since 2019, Pathways has been used by partners to more precisely and intentionally forecast, resource, design, and evaluate holistic health solutions in over twenty projects in seven countries.
Bluesquare has been working alongside Sonder Collective, the organization that leads Pathways, to build a website – www.withpathways.org – to showcase this approach. The launch of this new digital platform marks an important step in making it easier for partners to access reliable women-centered data, research-backed insights, intuitive tools, and customized technical support so they can quickly take action to improve health outcomes.
Pathways uses a set of quantitative methods to cluster or segment households into groups based on social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors. Additional qualitative research and analyses are then applied to further explore vulnerability or risk factors and health outcomes experienced by specific population segments. With these insights, decision-makers in countries such as Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal can better target interventions, improve planning, and allocate resources more equitably and impactfully across populations.
The data infrastructure behind Pathways is powered by OpenHEXA, Bluesquare’s open-source platform for data integration and processing. OpenHEXA enables users to combine, clean, and analyze complex datasets drawn from different systems, creating a robust foundation for segmentation and analysis.
By leveraging this technology, Pathways can match data on health, gender, and vulnerability to generate nuanced insights that inform action at national and subnational levels. This seamless integration makes it easier for policy-makers and partners to visualize inequities, track progress, and adapt strategies based on evidence.
The success of Pathways lies not only in its technology but also in the diversity of the people behind it. The initiative brings together multidisciplinary experts from Sonder Collective and Bluesquare, representing backgrounds in public health, data science, design, and anthropology.
What truly brings that diversity to life for clients is the application of human- -centered design—an approach equally embraced by Bluesquare. By grounding the work in the lived experiences, needs, and challenges of users, the teams ensure that diverse perspectives are not only represented but meaningfully integrated into every step of the design process.
This diversity—both in people and in perspective—is central to the project’s ethos: building tools that reflect the realities of the communities they serve and enabling decisions that advance equity in health systems.
As the Pathways digital platform continues to evolve, its ultimate goal remains clear — to provide decision-makers with data, insights, and tools enabling them to design targeted interventions and strategies that work within the reality of women’s day-to-day lives. By combining human-centered design, rigorous data science, and open-source innovation, the Pathways digital platform demonstrates how collaboration across disciplines and geographies can lead to meaningful change for women and children.
The launch of withpathways.org is both a milestone and an invitation — to explore, to learn, and to act on the evidence that drives a healthier and more equitable world.
