Written by Lant Pritchett My main objective is to cross-post this Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) blog, Learning From What We Do and Doing What We Learn: What We Gain from a Solution-Search Approach to Building State Capacity by Susana Cordeiro Guerra, manager of Institutions for Development (IFD) at IDB. But in doing so, would like…Continue Reading Building The Wave
Improving Public Education in Panama
Guest blog by Antonio Saad In 2018 I decided to start a certification in public policies at Harvard, understanding that the great challenges that my country faces, require a deep understanding of how the public sector works and also what tools could give me the bases to be able to provide better solutions to the…Continue Reading Improving Public Education in Panama
Promoting Child Development by Improving Care Quality in Public and Private Institutions in Mexico
Guest blog by Miriam Gastélum Aispuro When I got accepted for the IPP Harvard Program, I was happy relief. I thought, “WOW,” we will finally have the answers to the problems we are trying to solve in the Foundation. The course started and after weeks of learning, discussions and lectures, I realized that my thoughts…Continue Reading Promoting Child Development by Improving Care Quality in Public and Private Institutions in Mexico
Tax Administration in Trinidad and Tobago
Guest blog by Chiedza Juru, Gigi Hui, Michael Bediako, Manuel Sada Vazquez, Therese Wagner As we found out throughout this course, the challenges faced by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago are many, not least of which is the profound issue of declining tax revenue and generalized tax evasion. While this problem is not new…Continue Reading Tax Administration in Trinidad and Tobago
Exploring Labor Market Challenges in Bogotá, Colombia
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
Tackling Traffic Congestion in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
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
Using PDIA to Implement Health Priorities for the Presidential Election in Argentina
Guest blog by Adolfo Rubinstein, IPP ’22 Having been minister of health of my country during the previous administration (2017-2019), I felt fairly confident in my own policy-making abilities but, at the same time, I realized that policymaking is not an abstraction. It should get to policy implementation and hopefully policy impact. However, as we…Continue Reading Using PDIA to Implement Health Priorities for the Presidential Election in Argentina
Learnings from LEG & Exploring Growth Challenges in El Salvador
Guest Blog by Abdi Aguirre, LEG ’22 When I enrolled in the Leading Economic Growth Program of the Harvard Kennedy School, I thought that I was clear about the economic challenge I wanted to address along the course. As part of the admission process, they ask you to write some lines about it, so I believed…Continue Reading Learnings from LEG & Exploring Growth Challenges in El Salvador
Tackling corrupt taxation practices in Trinidad & Tobago through PDIA
Guest blog by Amrita Deonarine, IPP 2021 I came across this methodology of Problem-driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) in 2020 at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic when global energy prices plummeted, triggering supply shocks, demand shocks, and a health crisis all at the same time. The consequences of this triple whammy almost severed the revenue…Continue Reading Tackling corrupt taxation practices in Trinidad & Tobago through PDIA
Driving Financial Inclusion in Peru using PDIA Approach
Guest blog by Jennifer A. Infantas, IPP 2021 When we think about designing public policies, we need to understand the needs that we are trying to solve and who will be our target beneficiaries. But what about having the responsibility to implement those policies? Probably it might be as hard or even more complicated, challenging,…Continue Reading Driving Financial Inclusion in Peru using PDIA Approach