Category: Governance

Building Coalitions and Empowering Local Leaders in Papua New Guinea

PNG group participants

written by Salimah Samji 31 Developmental Leaders from across seven provinces in Papua New Guinea (PNG), working to reduce Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (SARV) and other complex problems, who successfully completed the PDIA online program were honored at an event held in Port Moresby on August 23, 2023. The program was offered by The Voice…Continue Reading Building Coalitions and Empowering Local Leaders in Papua New Guinea

A Policy Neophyte’s Journey Through Organizational Change, Policy Failures & Enlightenment in the United States

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Guest blog by Lucas R. Martinez In December of 2021, I embarked on a 6-day trek through Torres del Paine National Park, in southern Chilean Patagonia. A yearly ritual with a best friend from college, I would find a multi-day hike far from civilization to collect my thoughts, reenergize my spirit, and challenge me mentally…Continue Reading A Policy Neophyte’s Journey Through Organizational Change, Policy Failures & Enlightenment in the United States

Slowing Down To Go Fast: Fishing Out the Education Problems in Washington State

An empty classroom with a blank whiteboard

Guest blog by Sharonne Navas In a world of high speed wars, high speed internet, and high speed dating — can we slow down to solve world problems?   I was trained to problem solve in under five minutes. Math club, speed chess, wordle — the idea of speeding through a problem towards the solution was simply the…Continue Reading Slowing Down To Go Fast: Fishing Out the Education Problems in Washington State

Building and Sustaining Local Crude Oil Refining Capacity in Nigeria Using the PDIA Technique

Kugbo, Abuja, Nigeria

Guest blog by Nyeso George The last six months has been like six years learning the nuggets of policy implementation especially using the PDIA Technique. In the process, how I plan to use what has been learnt and my key takeaways can be summarized as follows: Centrality of clarity in problem definition – in most…Continue Reading Building and Sustaining Local Crude Oil Refining Capacity in Nigeria Using the PDIA Technique

Implementing PDIA in Digital Transformation of Riga City

Fishbone diagram

Guest blog by Rasmuss Filips Geks Back in 2001, something groundbreaking occurred. Seventeen technologists gathered in the Wasatch mountains of Utah to draft the Agile Manifesto. It was a set of principles for IT Project Management that would fundamentally change software development. Today, any user-friendly digital product we use was probably developed using these principles….Continue Reading Implementing PDIA in Digital Transformation of Riga City

Imagining the Future of Parks and Libraries in Bristol, UK

Team photo

Guest blog by Louis Costa, Sofia Martinez, Anjali Nemorin, Mahabuba Rahman, Leonardo da Silveira, Prasanya Thirupathy Over the course of the “PDIA in action” class at the Kennedy School, our team, The Night Owls, worked together in a very dynamic way to find entry points to a real-world, complex problem in just seven weeks. Our…Continue Reading Imagining the Future of Parks and Libraries in Bristol, UK

PDIA: An Inclusive Approach to Fortify Voting Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in Ethiopia

IPP 2022 participants working together

Guest blog by Hanna Demissie, IPP ’22 It was initially the idea of my boss, who is the Chairperson of the Election Commission and a Harvard Kennedy School alumna, to apply to the IPP program. Fortunately, despite my anxiety and hesitation, I found IPP extremely impactful, and it changed my understanding of policy challenges and…Continue Reading PDIA: An Inclusive Approach to Fortify Voting Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in Ethiopia

Decentralization to Lower Levels of Government and the Challenge of Basic Service Delivery in Papua New Guinea

PNG group photo

Guest blog by Joseph Sumanop, Alois Walsamis, Cecilia Yamugara, Absalom Maenui, Preston Karue, John Kombiku   There were many learnings derived from this course, the most important one being how to work in teams to solve a common problem. Throughout the course, we gained invaluable learnings from our teamwork and that will now shape the way…Continue Reading Decentralization to Lower Levels of Government and the Challenge of Basic Service Delivery in Papua New Guinea

Reflections on using PDIA to drive policy reforms during political turmoil

Guest blog by Ana Iorga, IPP 2021 When I joined the Implementing Public Policy (IPP) program of Harvard’s Building State Capability, I had flashbacks of my MBA program from a decade ago. I was both thrilled and scared at the same time—thrilled to be interacting with and learning from so many brilliant people from all…Continue Reading Reflections on using PDIA to drive policy reforms during political turmoil