written by Salimah Samji At Building State Capability (BSC) we resolve public problems with purpose. The increasingly complex, interdependent, and uncertain world we live in requires more flexible and adaptive approaches to solve complex problems, making the core of our mission more important than ever. 2024 was a year of new beginnings for BSC. We…Continue Reading BSC 2024: Year in Review
written by Matt Andrews I teach international development policy and management courses – to degree program and executive students. Twenty years ago, my classrooms were dominated by people from what we used to call (and still call) ‘developing countries’. These are typically poorer countries in the global south, that are the prime customers of development…Continue Reading Redefining Development Policy and Management
written by Salimah Samji Building State Capability (BSC) resolves public problems with purpose. We have developed a step-by-step approach called Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA), a dynamic process with tight feedback loops that allows organizations to build their own solutions that fit their local context. PDIA empowers action, facilitates the emergence of local solutions, and…Continue Reading BSC 2023: The Year in Review
written by Salimah Samji Building State Capability (BSC) empowers public organizations to find local solutions to local problems and to improve the implementation of their policies and programs. BSC has developed Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA), a learning by doing approach, that helps develop the capability to solve complex public problems. We build capability by…Continue Reading BSC 2022: The Year in Review
Guest blog by Delery Rice, IPP 2021 The COVID pandemic offered many challenges and horrible outcomes for so many people across the world. If I find myself searching for anything that resembles a positive result produced over the last two years, I would undoubtedly pick my experience with Harvard Kennedy School’s Implementing Public Policy (IPP)…Continue Reading My IPP Journey in Louisiana: The World Got Smaller as the Process Deepened
written by Salimah Samji Over the past three years, we have engaged on research titled “Understanding How Education Systems Build Capability, Innovate and Improve their Practices” as part of the Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) programme. One of the components of this work is to explore whether BSC’s Problem Driven Iteration Adaptation (PDIA)…Continue Reading Insights from Applying PDIA in the Education Sector
Guest blog written by Fadila Leturcq “Le savoir est une arme” (“Knowledge is a weapon” in English) is a recurring punchline in French rap lyrics and one that resonates with me when I take the time to reflect on my journey through the IPP program. “Le savoir est une arme ” suggests that learning, acquiring…Continue Reading Inclusion of youth in public and private decision-making bodies in France
Institutional change is part of the theory of change of PDIA – scaling through the diffusion of new ways of thinking and greater problem-solving know-how. And once a community of practice reaches critical mass across an eco-system, a tipping point can happen where the eco-system becomes generally more open to novelty, where success is a more effective route to legitimacy, and where leadership is oriented towards value creation….Continue Reading Can PDIA become a regular part of how a government works?
Guest blog by Isabel Tarrisse da Fontoura “The flow of life envelopes everything. That’s life: it heats up and cools down, it tightens and then loosens up, it becomes calm and then unrests. What it wants from us is courage”. João Guimaraes Rosa 1. An act of courage The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) program Implementing Public…Continue Reading Promoting design for global business in Brazil
Guest blog by Adam Harrison IPP Learning Journey: Learning in the Age of Pandemic In early 2020, I was lucky enough to be selected into the Harvard Kennedy School’s executive education class, “Implementing Public Policy (IPP).” I was thrilled that my supervisors at work had shown the confidence in me and interest in my development to…Continue Reading Building resilience into U.S. government functions
