Category: Public Finance

Exploring the lack of access to revenue in Wyoming

Revenue Growth

Guest blog by Tom Brauer, Justin D. Farley, Amber Pollock In Wyoming, much like throughout the United States, communities lack access to revenue and control of the revenue-raising mechanisms needed to self-determine their future. Over the past 12 weeks, The Wild Optimists have been immersed in the Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) course, where we’ve grown…Continue Reading Exploring the lack of access to revenue in Wyoming

New Podcast: Reflections on Applying PDIA to PFM in Africa

Danielle Serebro presenting at a CABRI conference in South Africa

We have released a new episode in our podcast series A Decade of Building State Capability. In this episode, BSC Director Salimah Samji interviews Joana Bento and Danielle Serebro, Programme Managers at Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI). They discuss the Building Public Finance Capabilities (BPFC) programme, developed by BSC in collaboration with CABRI in…Continue Reading New Podcast: Reflections on Applying PDIA to PFM in Africa

Death and Taxes in Papua New Guinea 

Group photo

Guest blog written by Minnie Banimbi, Salome Delabu, Michelle Fimaimba, Cieran Kelly, Eunice Takendu  Embarking on a journey through the PDIA course, we discovered a rich tapestry of skills crucial for effective problem-solving. We focused on the essentials of collective action, including teamwork, the clear articulation and deconstruction of problems, action facilitation and authorization, and…Continue Reading Death and Taxes in Papua New Guinea 

New Podcast: Andrew Lawson Reflects on his Evaluation of PDIA in Africa

Matt Andrews presenting at CABRI with Andrew Lawson in the audience

We have released a new episode in our podcast series A Decade of Building State Capability. Our second episode of the series features Andrew Lawson who did an independent evaluation of PDIA during our work with CABRI in Africa in 2018, commissioned by the Gates Foundation. He published a related piece in the World Development Perspectives in September 2023….Continue Reading New Podcast: Andrew Lawson Reflects on his Evaluation of PDIA in Africa

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

Assess your Authorisation, Acceptability, and Adoption while Implementing Public Policy

Guest blog by Kingsley Emu, IPP 2021 I have taken four courses in the Executive Education Program of the Harvard Kennedy School in the last six years. These are Public Financial Management in a Changing World (PFM), Leading Economic Growth (LEG), Creating Collaborative Solutions: Innovations in Governance (CCS), and Implementing Public Policy(IPP)—the most impactful one for…Continue Reading Assess your Authorisation, Acceptability, and Adoption while Implementing Public Policy

Budgeting, planning, and economic strategy in Mozambique

Map of Mozambique

Guest blog by Bruce Byiers Several years ago, I was involved in what seemed like quite a practical, consultative – perhaps even problem-driven – project in Mozambique: to better connect their ‘plan’, their ‘budget’ and their medium-term expenditure framework. As one might expect, this entailed multiple internal meetings in the Ministry of Finance, meetings with line…Continue Reading Budgeting, planning, and economic strategy in Mozambique

Independent Evaluation of PDIA Application in Africa

Matt Andrews at the white board teaching CABRI participants

In April 2017, we began our engagement with the Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI), an intergovernmental organization based in South Africa, to design and launch the Building Public Financial Management Capabilities (BPFMC) Program using the PDIA approach. In this program, CABRI’s member countries could apply for a team of 5-7 members to work on their locally…Continue Reading Independent Evaluation of PDIA Application in Africa