Harvard University homepage
HARVARD.EDU

Category: Sri Lanka

New Podcast: Ricardo Hausmann Reflects on his Engagement with BSC

  • Publication date January 3, 2024
Ricardo Hausmann headshot

We have released a new episode in our podcast series A Decade of Building State Capability. In this episode, BSC Director Salimah Samji interviews Ricardo Hausmann, Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy at the Harvard Kennedy School and founder and Director of Harvard’s Growth Lab. In this episode, Ricardo describes his…Continue Reading New Podcast: Ricardo Hausmann Reflects on his Engagement with BSC

PDIA in Sri Lanka: Learning to Develop a Sustainable Tourism Project

Written by Tim McNaught and Anisha Poobalan Tourism is a strong contributor to Sri Lankan economic growth. The bulk of development in this sector has been in the south and west of the island. The northern and eastern regions, the areas most affected by the civil war and most in need of an economic boost,…Continue Reading PDIA in Sri Lanka: Learning to Develop a Sustainable Tourism Project

PDIA in Sri Lanka: Evaluating Potential Sites for New Industrial Zones

Guest blog written by Priyanka Samaraweera The Land Team (L team) consisted of government officials from multiple departments in the Board of Investment, Sri Lanka. This team was formed as a continuation of the Targeting Team in Phase 2 of the PDIA Sri Lanka project. The Targeting Team identified new priority sectors to diversify the economy….Continue Reading PDIA in Sri Lanka: Evaluating Potential Sites for New Industrial Zones

PDIA in Sri Lanka: Attracting Anchor Investors in Solar Panel Manufacturing

Solar panels at sunset

Guest blog written by Ganga Palakatiya The Investor Engagement team (I team) consisted of government officials working at the Board of Investment, Sri Lanka, to diversify the economy by engaging new anchor investors and attracting Foreign Direct Investors (FDI) in new sectors. This was part of a PDIA engagement from May 2016 to September 2017. I team…Continue Reading PDIA in Sri Lanka: Attracting Anchor Investors in Solar Panel Manufacturing

PDIA in Sri Lanka: Learning to Engage New Investors for Economic Diversification – Let’s Go Fishing!

A Sri Lankan group collaborating

written by Anisha Poobalan Meet the Investment Promotions team, a group of Sri Lankan government officials from various departments, experts in differing fields, and all novices at the daunting task ahead of them – attracting foreign investors to Sri Lanka. I had the privilege of working alongside the I-team as a coach and colleague for…Continue Reading PDIA in Sri Lanka: Learning to Engage New Investors for Economic Diversification – Let’s Go Fishing!

Learning to improve Sri Lanka’s business and investment climate using PDIA

A training running through a village in Sri Lanka

written by Peter Harrington This past week, the Building State Capability (BSC) program published two new papers about our work doing PDIA-in-practice in Sri Lanka. The first paper is about working to improve Sri Lanka’s business and investment climate, and is the subject of this blog post. The second is about working to promote foreign…Continue Reading Learning to improve Sri Lanka’s business and investment climate using PDIA

Motivating teams to muddle through

A silhouette of 5 people with arms raised up at the top of a mountain

written by Anisha Poobalan In theory, PDIA seemed like the most logical, straightforward way to go about solving a problem. A team is formed, they deconstruct the identified problem and then attack each causal area, learning and adapting as they go. Being in the field, meeting with the teams weekly, hearing about the obstacles cropping…Continue Reading Motivating teams to muddle through

Building capability: the true success of PDIA

written by Anisha Poobalan The PDIA team has been working in Sri Lanka for the past six months with five talented and motivated government teams. This work is challenging and demands hard work by government officials and yet through short, repeated iterations, real progress is achieved. The teams update a facilitator every two weeks while…Continue Reading Building capability: the true success of PDIA