Governments across the world are facing a major budgeting crisis in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis raises important questions: All of these questions, and more, need to be addressed in the few months governments have left to develop their 2021 budgets. However, many of the processes and approaches to budgeting do not…Continue Reading New Online Program: Budgeting in a Time of Crisis
Charting a new course: Education systems after COVID-19

Written by Dzingai Mutumbuka and Marla Spivack We know that time away from school due to COVID-19 has undermined learning. Children are depending on education leaders – from high level officials to classroom teachers – to start planning now for a new focus on foundational skills. With bold action, and clear focus education systems can…Continue Reading Charting a new course: Education systems after COVID-19
Congo Calling Rebooted
Guest blog written by Bandi Mbubi At the beginning of 2019, Harvard Kennedy School invited me to apply for its executive program in Implementing Public Policy. The letter was timely as it arrived when I was reflecting on my life and considering my next moves. The more I read about the course, the more I was…Continue Reading Congo Calling Rebooted
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
Early Childhood Education in Brazil

Guest blog written by Beatriz Abuchaim A big headache. It was what I felt in the introductory class at Kennedy School. It was not my first experience at Harvard. I had taken a course in 2018 at Center on the Developing Child, but it didn’t have the same pressure I was feeling as a Public Policy…Continue Reading Early Childhood Education in Brazil
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
IT Project for a Pay Transparency Initiative in Canada
Guest blog written by Judith Buchanan My Implementing Public Policy (IPP) journey began with enthusiasm (and was mostly sustained throughout). Having previously attended a Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education course – Strategic Management of Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies – I was keen to attend the course. I knew that, not only would the course be…Continue Reading IT Project for a Pay Transparency Initiative in Canada
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