Guest blog by Ileana I. Ferber, IPP ’22
In the past seven years, I have been immersed and fascinated with local content policies related to the extractive sector (mining, oil, and gas). Once I became comfortable in analyzing and assessing the fitness of these policies to their specific country of origin, I started advocating for reasonable and flexible guidelines. The most important consideration is the capability of resource-holder countries to provide operators with what they need to carry out a project from cradle to grave. In oil and gas, the lifecycle of a project includes four phases: exploration, development, production, and decommissioning (ranging from 20-30 years altogether). For each phase, operators will have different needs for people, goods, services, permitting, as well as government support.
The challenge is that Namibia is unprepared to support the O&G sector. Why? Because the local workforce doesn’t have the necessary skill levels, the local suppliers don’t have the capabilities to provide goods and services, the local market is not competitive, and the government doesn’t have the experience to support and understand the needs of the industry.
Here is when my PDIA journey started. Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation was not new to me. I had a good introduction to PDIA in a previous HKS program (LEG – Leading Economic Growth). There are three key learnings from my 20-week experience as a PDIA practitioner:
Lesson #1: Defining and wording the problem will take several attempts. That’s why you need to construct and then deconstruct your problem. You get there only by breaking the whole idea into pieces and putting them back together. Don’t get frustrated if you must do this more than a thousand times. Asking five times WHY can turn into a fun game. You will need a lot of paper: number each version and keep them all. Trust me.
Lesson #2: Use the toolkit that is available. It’s a good roadmap for beginners and a great tool for documenting your steps. Record every iteration and adaptation in the PDIA check-in tool. You will be amazed and proud of yourself for the little win and the progress you made along the way. This tool has a starting point but no endpoint.
Lesson #3: don’t underestimate the power of the 3As (Authority, Acceptance, Ability). I started with zero “acceptance” and no access to “authority.” I counted with “ability” and was confident that I could build the “ability” of key stakeholders along the way. I spent most of the 20 weeks primarily working on “authority.” Reaching out to the highest authority level of my challenge seemed impossible. Remember this: everything is possible! I met the most critical authorizer and had the opportunity to talk to him about my PDIA challenge.
The implementation challenge is how I can build the required capability within the Namibian government, especially in the Ministry of Mines and Energy. They have been working for several years on a local content policy for the oil and gas industry. However, they don’t know who, when, and how to implement it. Once the government understands the sector’s needs, the stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities, and their roles and responsibilities, they can start developing a fit-for-purpose policy that addresses the development of the local workforce and Namibian suppliers.
Creating the fishbone diagram led me to a breakthrough. The problem seemed explicit and legitimate, but the lack of “authority” in most of the bones made me realize that the head of my fish was the bone with more “acceptance” and “ability.” I could build and work on getting “authority.” Now that I have it, I can move on to the next phase of my challenge.
It doesn’t matter how long it takes to get all the 3As. Realizing the impossible could be possible changed my view of the PDIA journey. Looking back at my assignments, the check-in tool, and all the iterations of my fishbone made me realize that I must be patient and determined. PDIA is not a short-term journey, but practitioners need to be disciplined and constant. Otherwise, momentum can be lost, and so can the 3As.
I plan to adopt PDIA as my go-to tool for economic development projects. I’m committed to bringing PDIA to Ministries of Energy, Mines, Hydrocarbons, etc., so they can use it to develop the right policies and, most importantly, learn how to implement them. PDIA needs to be shared with governments. The PDIA Community of Practice will be the best vehicle to bring it to those in need. That’s the goal; that’s my journey.
This is a blog series written by the alumni of the Implementing Public Policy Executive Education Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. Participants successfully completed this 6-month online learning course in December 2022. These are their learning journey stories.