We Did It Right, But It Was Still Wrong

HCI interventions often fall short of delivering lasting impact in resource-constrained contexts. We reflect on a project where we followed the "right" steps of needs-based, human-centered design, yet failed to deliver impact to the community. We introduce a framework that evaluates an intervention's potential for sustainable impact by maximizing use of assets in the community and minimizing novelty. We propose assets-based design as an approach that starts with what a community has, leveraging those assets in a design, as opposed to a needs-based approach that focuses on adding what a community lacks.