written by Lant Pritchett Change is hard. It is hard for individuals. It is extra hard for organizations. Change is especially hard for organizations when they have been successful. Organizations often develop strategies, norms, and practices that are tailored to produce success in a particular activity or context. When those strategies are successful, organizations have…Continue Reading Developing Country Education Systems that Learn
Tackling the problem of basic education in remote areas of Indonesia
Guest blog written by Annisaa Rachmawati, Agusti Padmanisa, Yossy Rachmatillah, and Senza Arsendy. This is a team of four development practitioners working for an education program in Indonesia, INOVASI, that aims to find out ‘what works’ (and conversely what does not work) to improve student learning outcomes in literacy and numeracy in basic education. They…Continue Reading Tackling the problem of basic education in remote areas of Indonesia
Legal Education Reform in Ukraine
Guest blog written by Artem Shaipov, Ivan Shemelynets, Sheverdin Maksym, Maryna Yakubovych. This is a team works for the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Legal Education Committee of the Ukrainian Bar Association, and the USAID New Justice Program in Ukraine. They successfully completed the 15-week Practice of PDIA online course that ended in December 2018. This is…Continue Reading Legal Education Reform in Ukraine
Monitoring FONACIDE in Paraguay
Guest blog written by Daniel Canteros, David Riveros Garcia, Irene Clementina Esquivel Hermosilla, Sofía Belén Pozzo Centurión. This is a team working a grassroots NGO called reAccion Paraguay which fights corruption in the education sector through promoting citizen participation and technology. They successfully completed the 15-week Practice of PDIA online course that ended in December 2018. This…Continue Reading Monitoring FONACIDE in Paraguay
Higher Education Access in Ecuador
Guest blog by Daniela Espinosa Alarcón, Gabriela Suarez Buitron, Luis Fernando Ochoa, Verónica Villavicencio Pérez This is a team working at the National Secretariat of Higher Education and Technology in Ecuador. They successfully completed the 15-week Practice of PDIA online course that ended in December 2018. This is their story. Developing strategies based on identifying the…Continue Reading Higher Education Access in Ecuador
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
Best Practice is a Pipe Dream: The AK47 vs M16 debate and development practice
written by Lant Pritchett At a recent holiday party I was discussing organizations and innovations with a friend of mine who teaches at the Harvard Business School about organizations and is a professor and student about technology and history. I told him I was thinking about the lessons for the development “best practice” mantra from…Continue Reading Best Practice is a Pipe Dream: The AK47 vs M16 debate and development practice
How can we learn when we don’t understand the problem?
written by Salimah Samji Most development practitioners think that they are working on problems. However, what they often mean by the word ‘problem’ is the ‘lack of a solution’. This leads to designing typical, business as usual interventions, without addressing the actual problem. Essentially, they sell solutions to specific problems they have identified and prioritized…Continue Reading How can we learn when we don’t understand the problem?
Common Core Math: when the how undermines the what
written by Salimah Samji Without the how, the what remains fiction — often compelling fiction. Development is littered with examples of projects/reforms that have failed because no one systematically thought through how the project/reform would actually be implemented given the local capacity and context. The common assumption is that if you design a technically sound…Continue Reading Common Core Math: when the how undermines the what