Guest blog by Louis Costa, Sofia Martinez, Anjali Nemorin, Mahabuba Rahman, Leonardo da Silveira, Prasanya Thirupathy Over the course of the “PDIA in action” class at the Kennedy School, our team, The Night Owls, worked together in a very dynamic way to find entry points to a real-world, complex problem in just seven weeks. Our…Continue Reading Imagining the Future of Parks and Libraries in Bristol, UK
Guest blog by Danielle Bayer, Julia Lemesh, Othmane Ouhaddach, Konstantin Usov, Nanako Yamaguchi The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) is a federally funded community service and work-based job training program for low-income Americans who are 55+ years old. A program authorized by the Older Americans Act, SCSEP provides training for low-income, unemployed seniors, many…Continue Reading Increasing Enrollment in a Senior Citizen Employment Program in MA
Lessons from Scranton: How Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation Can Transform an Intractable Housing Crisis for Vulnerable Groups Group blog by Michael Reschke, Velaphi Mamba, VK Vu, Nadyah Hilmi, Ussen Galym, Sam Pairavi How do you address a minimally framed development challenge without data and an ominously opaque understanding of the real problem? Where do you…Continue Reading Unlocking the Key to Safe Housing in Scranton, Pennsylvania
Guest blog by Anis Saidi, David Friedman, Diksha Kataria, Krista Gon, Lucy Kruske, Tatenda Mujeni, Younmi Kim Complex problems are not impossible to solve. As we learned over the course of this module, PDIA teams must adopt a humble, progressive, and iterative approach to tackle complex problems successfully. The initial step is deconstructing the problem…Continue Reading Providing Quality Health Care in Kaduna State, Nigeria
Guest blog by Soraya Mohideen, Shunta Takino, Michaela Tobin, Akinobu Toyoda, Andres Valenciano Writing a team constitution seemed like a tedious step, but it was vital and something that we recognized as beneficial in other contexts. The process of developing a constitution got every team member to think about what a well-functioning and effective team…Continue Reading Exploring Labor Market Challenges in Bogotá, Colombia
Guest blog by Kriti Chopra, Kish Greene, Apoorva Murari, Romita Shah, Abeer Al-Zubaidi On a cold January day, we kicked off the semester with a deep-seated desire to make a difference in the lives of others. By the end of our first class for Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA), we were given a challenge commensurate…Continue Reading Exploring Homelessness in Philadelphia
Guest blog by Hanna Demissie, IPP ’22 It was initially the idea of my boss, who is the Chairperson of the Election Commission and a Harvard Kennedy School alumna, to apply to the IPP program. Fortunately, despite my anxiety and hesitation, I found IPP extremely impactful, and it changed my understanding of policy challenges and…Continue Reading PDIA: An Inclusive Approach to Fortify Voting Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in Ethiopia
Guest blog by Romeo Ramlakhan, IPP ’22 “Good luck with that!” Those where the exact same words an elected official in City Hall told me in the early days of my tenure as Chief of Staff in the City of Santo Domingo in 2020, as we were discussing municipal policy agenda-setting for the coming years….Continue Reading Tackling Traffic Congestion in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Guest blog by Shanequa E. Moore, IPP ’22 When I applied to the IPP program, I envisioned a traditional academic experience; yet, what I received has helped me to embrace both my passions and frustrations with public policy and uncover the possibilities of what we can accomplish when we work together. I recall the words…Continue Reading Providing Mental Health Access to Vulnerable Youth in New York City
Guest blog by Kevin Slocombe, IPP ’22 Why are we only delivering against some of the promises we made to the city in the election? Why are only some of our key programmes to deliver inclusive growth being realised? The Mayor of Bristol, UK was elected on a platform based around inclusive and sustainable growth;…Continue Reading Inclusive Growth in the City of Bristol, UK
