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Category: Governance

Posts relating to governance

Feeling Excited, then Misplaced, then Overwhelmed, then Inspired!

Guest blog written by Anna Doherty Rolling up on day one at the Kennedy School, alongside a global cohort of policymakers, I felt excited and then immediately overcome with imposter syndrome. As it turned out, my fellow students were establishing peace ministries, tackling the inter-generational impacts of racial segregation, advocating for better healthcare and medicine,…Continue Reading Feeling Excited, then Misplaced, then Overwhelmed, then Inspired!

Leveraging Technology to Improve Forecasting and Monitoring of Local Government Budgets

Guest blog written by Ruth Huette Public budget uncertainty is a defining characteristic of the COVID-19 pandemic Last week, governments of France and Germany announced that their countries would enter yet another phase of lockdown as new cases of COVID-19 were on a steep rise again. As Europe is grappling with a second COVID wave,…Continue Reading Leveraging Technology to Improve Forecasting and Monitoring of Local Government Budgets

COVID Budgeting – Fiscal Response and Challenges

Guest blog written by Imaad Syed Most governments across the world responded to challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic through fiscal and monetary support measures. Coordination and implementation issues aside, these measures have been instrumental in saving lives and livelihoods in the short-term. However, budgeting challenges remain given the massive outlays for the COVID response. In…Continue Reading COVID Budgeting – Fiscal Response and Challenges

How Should Governments Manage Budget Cuts of 20% (or more) in 2021?

written by Matt Andrews The months of October, November and December are commonly busy in City Treasuries, Provincial Budget Bureaus and Ministries of Finance across the world. This is the time of year when these officials are finalizing their budget proposals and are getting ready to present the proposals to political representatives.  More often than not, one expects to see revenue and expenditure plans for…Continue Reading How Should Governments Manage Budget Cuts of 20% (or more) in 2021?

Will Government Budgets in 2021 involve more COVID-19 ‘Whack-A-Mole’?

written by Matt Andrews Governments started 2020, as they do every year, with budgets that set out plans for raising and spending public money. Then COVID-19 hit, disrupting even the best laid plans and forcing officials to shift from planning to triage mode in the face of rapidly changing crisis conditions.  According  to a recent informal survey…Continue Reading Will Government Budgets in 2021 involve more COVID-19 ‘Whack-A-Mole’?

Finding Leadership Confidence

Guest blog written by Crystal Nowlan When I was first invited by my municipality’s Mayor and CAO to register for the ‘Implementing Public Policy’ (IPP) course, I was incredibly honoured for the learning opportunity.  I also felt the responsibility to ensure the learning would have a return on investment for our organization and taxpayers. But…Continue Reading Finding Leadership Confidence

COVID Act Two: Look beyond your borders to navigate what comes next

Guest blog written by Peter Harrington and Ben French Act One of Covid is over. In places it has been frightening, in others orderly, and everywhere completely unprecedented. As we move into Act Two of this astonishing global drama, and a global recession on a scale not seen before, governments and leaders need to prepare themselves…Continue Reading COVID Act Two: Look beyond your borders to navigate what comes next

Flexibility and Learning in Times of Global Uncertainty

Guest blog written by Nahuel Arenas-García Nahuel and his team from Costa Rica successfully completed the 15-week Practice of PDIA online course that ended in May 2017. Between January and May 2017, authorities and technical staff of the Costa Rican National Risk Prevention and Emergency Management Commission (CNE, for its acronym in Spanish) joined staff of…Continue Reading Flexibility and Learning in Times of Global Uncertainty

Highlighting Experience and Learning in Nigeria

Guest blog written by Fatima Kakuri Coming to Harvard to do this course, my goal was to gain advanced thought and greater insight into public policy concepts, theories, elements, types and stages of policy making, I was caught up in a subliminal whirlwind of nervousness and feeling out of place before starting the course, as…Continue Reading Highlighting Experience and Learning in Nigeria

The Big Stuck: Updated

written by Lant Pritchett The PDIA approach to building state capability grew out of a sense among practitioner/academics (or “pracademics”) that (a) organizational capability for implementation was key to success—as, if not more important the adoption of new policies or the creation of new programs and (b) that the existing models (both in the mainstream…Continue Reading The Big Stuck: Updated