Guest blog by Anis Saidi, David Friedman, Diksha Kataria, Krista Gon, Lucy Kruske, Tatenda Mujeni, Younmi Kim Complex problems are not impossible to solve. As we learned over the course of this module, PDIA teams must adopt a humble, progressive, and iterative approach to tackle complex problems successfully. The initial step is deconstructing the problem…Continue Reading Providing Quality Health Care in Kaduna State, Nigeria
Guest blog by Soraya Mohideen, Shunta Takino, Michaela Tobin, Akinobu Toyoda, Andres Valenciano Writing a team constitution seemed like a tedious step, but it was vital and something that we recognized as beneficial in other contexts. The process of developing a constitution got every team member to think about what a well-functioning and effective team…Continue Reading Exploring Labor Market Challenges in Bogotá, Colombia
Guest blog by Kriti Chopra, Kish Greene, Apoorva Murari, Romita Shah, Abeer Al-Zubaidi On a cold January day, we kicked off the semester with a deep-seated desire to make a difference in the lives of others. By the end of our first class for Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA), we were given a challenge commensurate…Continue Reading Exploring Homelessness in Philadelphia
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
Guest blog by Romeo Ramlakhan, IPP ’22 “Good luck with that!” Those where the exact same words an elected official in City Hall told me in the early days of my tenure as Chief of Staff in the City of Santo Domingo in 2020, as we were discussing municipal policy agenda-setting for the coming years….Continue Reading Tackling Traffic Congestion in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Guest blog by Shanequa E. Moore, IPP ’22 When I applied to the IPP program, I envisioned a traditional academic experience; yet, what I received has helped me to embrace both my passions and frustrations with public policy and uncover the possibilities of what we can accomplish when we work together. I recall the words…Continue Reading Providing Mental Health Access to Vulnerable Youth in New York City
Guest blog by Kevin Slocombe, IPP ’22 Why are we only delivering against some of the promises we made to the city in the election? Why are only some of our key programmes to deliver inclusive growth being realised? The Mayor of Bristol, UK was elected on a platform based around inclusive and sustainable growth;…Continue Reading Inclusive Growth in the City of Bristol, UK
Guest blog by Adolfo Rubinstein, IPP ’22 Having been minister of health of my country during the previous administration (2017-2019), I felt fairly confident in my own policy-making abilities but, at the same time, I realized that policymaking is not an abstraction. It should get to policy implementation and hopefully policy impact. However, as we…Continue Reading Using PDIA to Implement Health Priorities for the Presidential Election in Argentina
Written by Salimah Samji We developed a 12-week custom PDIA for Education Systems online action learning program for Education Development Trust (EDT), funded by United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), to help build the capability to improve foundational learning outcomes through practical action-oriented work. 56 education practitioners across 9 country teams from Ethiopia,…Continue Reading Our PDIA for Education Systems Online Program
Guest blog written by: Lindiwe Chide, Joan Keaney-Bray, Grace Milner, Martha Sineta, Joshua Valeta, Arianna Zanolini Our Malawi team of six just ended a 12-week journey into Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) for Education through the Harvard Executive Education Course. We were a group of Directors at the Ministry, a District Education Manager, and two…Continue Reading The Power of Listening: The Beginning of our PDIA journey in Malawi
