Guest blog by Ajay Shah In thinking about the State, there are two useful principles: We should embark on things that we can do (i.e. don’t take on things that we don’t have the ability to do); and We should walk before we run (i.e. do simple things, achieve victory, then move on to a…Continue Reading Sequencing in the construction of State capacity: Walk before you can run
How did China Create “Directed Improvisation”?
written by Lant Pritchett Yuen-Yuen Ang, a Professor of Political Science at University of Michigan came to speak at Harvard the other day and I was lucky enough to hear her presentation. Her most recent book is How China Escaped the Poverty Trap, which is an original and insightful take on what is perhaps the…Continue Reading How did China Create “Directed Improvisation”?
Motivating teams to muddle through
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
Dealing with a wicked hard problem in India
Guest blog post by S. Nagarajan I recently joined the PDIA online course, inspired by attending the launch of the Building State Capability Book at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. A few weeks into the course, I was introduced to the typology of the capability required depending on the task. The task…Continue Reading Dealing with a wicked hard problem in India
Finding the Fringes of Formality: Organizational Capability in Street-Level Bureaucracies in Brazil
Guest blog written by Susana Cordeiro Guerra Why is it that, despite the abundant resources invested and the largely favorable macroeconomic conditions that have prevailed until recently, middle-income countries have been unable to systematically deliver quality basic services, such as education and safety, to their citizens? Despite a wide variety of attempts to improve these crucial…Continue Reading Finding the Fringes of Formality: Organizational Capability in Street-Level Bureaucracies in Brazil
Book Review of Serious Whitefella Stuff: When Solutions Became the Problem in Indigenous Affairs
written by Michael Woolcock It is no secret that a long succession of Australian governments – federal and state, Liberal and Labour – have struggled to implement effective policies in Indigenous communities. Less well known, even among seasoned researchers, is exactly why this has been (and remains) the case. How is it that a public…Continue Reading Book Review of Serious Whitefella Stuff: When Solutions Became the Problem in Indigenous Affairs
PDIA in Indonesia: The new frontline service delivery policy
How does the government of Indonesia make its presence felt by all 250 million citizens across the sprawling archipelago? While decentralization provides district governments the authority to address local needs, effective execution of these functions relies heavily on the capacity of the local governments to analyze service gaps and drive more coordinated efforts to address…Continue Reading PDIA in Indonesia: The new frontline service delivery policy
Making the case for case studies in development practice
Written by Michael Woolcock The frequency and sophistication with which case studies are deployed by social scientists has greatly expanded in recent years. The goal now is not merely to document or describe, but to diagnose, explain, interpret, and inform a basis for action. Professional schools across the disciplines – from medicine and engineering to…Continue Reading Making the case for case studies in development practice
Rising to the challenge: Supporting PDIA in Nigeria
The importance of thinking and working politically in programs concerned with governance and institutional reform is widely recognized – but shifting from thinking politically to working politically is proving a major challenge. The State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI), a governance reform program in Nigeria, supports local partners and stakeholders not through the usual accountable…Continue Reading Rising to the challenge: Supporting PDIA in Nigeria