Guest blog written by Lee Henley, Vann Sokha, Jenny Ciucci, Zoey Henley This team successfully completed the 15-week Practice of PDIA online course that ended in December 2018. This is their story. CFI is a small NGO in a rural part of Battambang Cambodia, we work with some of the most resource poor children in Cambodia….Continue Reading CFI in Cambodia
Applying the ‘triple A’ framework in Pakistan and Palestine: what we learnt about implementing reform
Guest blog written by Albert Pijuan and David Hoole 86 development practitioners at OPML have successfully completed the 15-week Practice of PDIA online course over the past two years. This is a story of how they are using the PDIA tools. At Oxford Policy Management, we have been building on and incorporating the lessons from the…Continue Reading Applying the ‘triple A’ framework in Pakistan and Palestine: what we learnt about implementing reform
INOVASI’s experience with PDIA to solve the wicked hard problem of basic education in Indonesia
written by Mark Heyward During the first half of 2018, a group of 21 development practitioners from the Innovation for Indonesia’s School Children (INOVASI) program and partners, formed cross-program groups and completed the intensive, 15-week online course conducted by the Building State Capability program at Harvard’s Centre for International Development, called ‘Practice of PDIA; Building…Continue Reading INOVASI’s experience with PDIA to solve the wicked hard problem of basic education in Indonesia
PDIA in Sri Lanka: Learning to Engage New Investors for Economic Diversification – Let’s Go Fishing!
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
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
Sequencing in the construction of State capacity: Walk before you can run
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