written by Salimah Samji
At Building State Capability (BSC) we resolve public problems with purpose.
We equip teams of practitioners around the world with the tools and resources to improve the implementation of their policies and programs. Since our founding in 2012, we have directly engaged with over 4,850 practitioners in 157 countries and built a global community of practice.
Here are some BSC highlights of the year:
- Directly engaged with 350+ policy practitioners in 40 countries to build their implementation capabilities.
- Continued our engagements with governments in the city of Helsinki, the state of Wyoming, and in the country of Papua New Guinea.
- We now have 600+ members from 105 countries on our newly launched community of practice online platform.
- Held 10 events that convened over 500 development practitioners – on campus, in Bahrain, and virtually.
- Welcomed a new team member Marietou Diallo and bid farewell to Catalina Reyes and Mannat Singh who were integral to achieving some of our results this past year. We are deeply grateful for their hard-work and wish them the best in their new adventures.
- Employed 6 students as research/teaching assistants, providing them with job training skills as well opportunities to learn how our concepts and tools are applied by practitioners around the world.
2026 promises to be another exciting year for us. Here are a few things we have in store for you: new tools, more podcast series, cases, blogs, events, and continue to grow our online community of practice to include everyone we have ever trained or engaged with. Subscribe to our newsletter and/or blog digest to stay in touch.
Here is a detailed account of our activities in 2025.
Building Implementation Capabilities
We believe that problems are entry points to change and working in teams is the vehicle for change. We convene implementation teams who work iteratively and autonomously to solve their own nominated problems. The teams learn new problem-solving tools and achieve results as well as tangible capacity gains. We build capability by delivering results.
In 2025 we trained and engaged with 350+ policy practitioners in executive education, graduate degree programs at Harvard, and in policy engagements with governments at the city, state, and national level.
In April 2025, we welcomed our second cohort of our 5-day executive education program titled, Strategies for Inclusive Growth. Matt Andrews co-chaired this program with the Growth Lab’s Ricardo Hausmann. 40 practitioners successfully completed this program. Over the past two years, 73 policy practitioners from 34 countries have successfully completed this program.
In June 2025, we welcomed the seventh cohort of our flagship Implementing Public Policy (IPP) executive program to campus. 36 practitioners from 16 countries participated in this program from May-September 2025. You can read more about what IPP cohort 2025 learned. Over the past 7 years, 418 policy practitioners from 84 countries have successfully completed the IPP program.
In August 2025, we began our fourth year offering a 12-week PDIA online action learning program for The Voice Inc, a Papua New Guinean organization delivering its Australian Government supported Local Leadership & Collective Action Program, to build the capability of local leaders to create broad coalitions for change. 44 development leaders across 8 teams participated in the PDIA program. You can learn more about the PNG program. Over the past 4 years, 142 development leaders across a diverse mix of NGOs, the private sector, and government agencies, have successfully completed the PDIA online program.
In September 2025, Matt Andrews taught his flagship course entitled, Getting Things Done: Management in a Development Context at the Harvard Kennedy School. 88 graduate students completed the course in December 2025.
In September 2025, we began a second engagement with the city of Helsinki to build the capability of the life cycle working groups to promote well-being, health, and safety, in the city of Helsinki. 55 city leaders across 8 teams participated in the program kickoff in Helsinki. The program will support the goal setting process, offer a common PDIA approach to working collaboratively across boundaries, and foster a feeling of mutual accountability among the stakeholders. The program will also strengthen leadership skills and provide tools to effectively implement shared goals. You can learn more about the Helsinki program.
In October 2025, Matt Andrews co-chaired the 10-week online program Leading Economic Growth (LEG) with Ricardo Hausmann. 63 practitioners from 25 countries participated in this program from October-December 2025. Read more about what LEG participants learned. Over the past 5 years, 707 policy practitioners from 104 countries have successfully completed the LEG program.
In October 2025, we began to work with a third cohort of 12 participants across 3 teams in the Understanding Fiscal Systems program kickoff in Cheyenne. Over the period of six weeks, the teams made concrete progress turning complex tax and budget issues into clear, citizen-friendly stories to influence public understanding. They prototyped, tested, and refined early versions of their communication products, using feedback from key authorizers and stakeholders to strengthen their work. The teams also deepened their understanding of Wyoming’s revenue system and the political context shaping it. You can learn more about the Wyoming program.
Events
We host events featuring researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and academics who are working to solve complex problems.
This year, in addition to hosting live and virtual events on campus, we hosted our first IPP community of practice seminar for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in Bahrain.
Here are the events we held this year:
1. IPP Alumni Seminar in Bahrain
We hosted our first IPP community of practice seminar for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in Bahrain from January 31st-February 2nd, 2025. The 2-day seminar included a dinner reception, fireside chat, presentations on regional PDIA cases, panel discussions and interactive sessions. The event provided an opportunity for alumni to reconvene, meet like-minded people, and collectively address complex policy challenges. Learn more about the IPP MENA meetup.
2. Inside the Political Mind: The Human Side of Politics
In March 2025, Greg Power discussed his book Inside the Political Mind and his extensive experience working alongside and within political institutions from more than 60 countries. Politicians, he emphasized, are people whose behavior is shaped by incentives, pressures, and norms. He also discussed the challenges of the present political context, explaining how populist movements tend to emerge when people’s economic situations have stagnated, thereby rendering disruptive change to appear logical even though it’s not rational. Watch the recording of Greg’s talk.
3. The Travails of Success in Development
In May 2025, Matt Andrews led a discussion on The Travails of Success in Development as part of the events organized around the 25th reunion for the MPA/ID program at the Harvard Kennedy School.
4. Bridging Silos in Ireland’s Health System
In September 2025, Stephen Donnelly (former Minister of Health in Ireland) led a session for students in Matt Andrew’s Getting Things Done: Management in a Development Context (MLD102) class at the Harvard Kennedy School. He also met with MPA/ID students.
5. Finding Purpose in Turbulent Times
In October 2025, Shaun Tomson, former world champion surfer and leadership expert, introduced his CODE mindset (Commitment, Optimism, Desire, Engagement) and his CODE Method, a transformative framework designed to help individuals turn hope into action, visualization into realization, and desire into lasting commitment. He presented at a public BSC event (watch the highlight reel from Shaun’s event) and led a session for MLD102 students.
6. Lesson’s in State Capacity from Delhi’s Schools
In this talk, Yamini Aiyar, senior fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute and former president of the Center for Policy Research in Delhi, shared highlights of her book synthesizing 337 classroom observations across 8 schools, 200 teacher surveys, and an analysis of 2,000 government circulars over three years. Aiyar concluded that genuine state capacity is not built through surveillance and monitoring systems (which signal a lack of capacity), but through the patient cultivation of tacit cultural changes that make bureaucrats seek legitimacy through different behaviors, transforming how they understand their roles and relationships within the system. Watch the recoding of Yamini’s event.
7. Ask Me Anything featuring Lant Pritchett
In this talk, Lant Pritchett, Research Director, Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP), BSC Associate and former MPA/ID Faculty Director, addressed pressing questions from the audience on international development. He shared insights on navigating career challenges amid funding cuts and job losses in development, discussed distinguishing hallmarks of intellectual curiosity, and offered advice on avoiding “capability traps” in careers and choosing roles that build real impact.
8. BSC Community of Practice (CoP) Events
Our BSC CoP now has 600+ members from over 105 countries on our online platform. This year we held three community-only events. These events, led by practitioners in the community, created a space for cross-national and cross-sector exchanges. We had sector-specific discussions on the housing crisis led by IPP alumni, an education-focused event featuring practitioners from Brazil and Zambia, and an interactive session on Making Peace with Time: Moving from Scarcity to Meaning led by Matt Andrews. These events reflect the kind of practitioner-driven learning that makes the CoP so valuable by allowing members to learn from each other. Learn more about our Community of Practice and our efforts to build engagement.