Our Work to Date

Deepened our engagement with global policy practitioners

Through the fourth iteration of our action-learning program in Papua New Guinea, we strengthened the capability of local leaders to create broad coalitions for change.

Convened our first in-person alumni meet-up

We held 10 events that convened over 500 development practitioners (in person and virtually) including convening our first in-person meet-up in Bahrain for our alumni.

Launched our new online community platform

We launched a new online platform to engage our Community of Practice (CoP), and over 600 members from 105 countries have joined.

Joined the Center for Public Leadership at HKS and launched new programs in Helsinki and Wyoming

We developed custom action-learning programs for the state of Wyoming to address economic growth issues as well as the city of Helsinki to build the capability to address and solve complex problems, with a focus on child and youth safety.

Introduced Strategies for Inclusive Growth

This HKS Executive Education program, Strategies for Inclusive Growth, encourages practitioners to leverage elements of PDIA in their economic growth strategies.

Released the Leadership, Organizing, and Action podcast series

This podcast series, featuring Marshall Ganz, walks you through the key practices of People, Power, Change and provides practical strategies to learn the leadership and organizing craft.

Celebrated a decade of BSC

We marked a decade of Building State Capability with a celebratory event.

Launched a decade podcast series

We launched a new podcast series, A Decade of Building State Capability, featuring practitioners who reflect on their engagement with BSC over the past 10 years.

Supported city teams working on complex problems

Matt Andrews and Salimah Samji taught PDIA in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative Collaboration Track, an opportunity to advance the city’s ability to solve critical social challenges. 79 city practitioners participated in this program.

Led the PDIA for Education Systems online action learning program

We led a PDIA for Education Systems online action learning program for Education Development Trust, funded by United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). 56 practitioners across 9 country teams from Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Zambia, participated in this program.

Collaborated with The Voice Inc

We led a PDIA online action learning program for The Voice Inc, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) funded Local Leadership & Collective Action Program in Papua New Guinea. The goal of this program was to build the capability of local leadership to engage in collective action as they learned how to address and solve problems, in teams, through action-oriented work. 31 development leaders participated in this program in 2022.

Launched the Resolving Public Problems podcast series

This podcast series interviews 15 alumni of the Implementing Public Policy program to learn how our alumni are using the PDIA tools and approach in their day-to-day lives.

Applied PDIA to public education in Brazil

We began an engagement with Instituto Sonho Grande (ISG) in Brazil to build the capability of public servants working in secretariats of education in the states of Maranhão and Paraíba.

Highlighted MLD103 student work

We organized a public event series featuring our MLD103 students and a collection of their work was showcased in the PDIA in Action book.

Participated in the “Beyond COVID-19” panel

Matt Andrews participated in a Beyond COVID-19 panel discussion, where he highlighted the “last-mile delivery” challenge many countries face after procuring vaccines, noting the need to shift towards more resilient health systems and not just delivering health services. 

Supported leaders through crisis

Soon after the Covid-19 lockdown, Matt Andrews began a blog series on Public Leadership Through Crisis to offer ideas for leaders questioning how they can help in crises. Over the period of four weeks, we posted 18 blogs and held 6 accompanying virtual discussions open to HKS students, alumni, and the public.

Pivoted programs to online formats

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we pivoted our courses and programs to online formats including Implementing Public Policy, Leading Economic Growth, and degree program courses.

Recorded the 4P podcast series

We recorded and launched a new 4-part podcast series with BSC Faculty Associate Rob Wilkinson on his 4P model of strategic leadership.

Won the ELGL Haverford Award

We won the Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL) Haverford Award that celebrates the top organizations that work with local government. 

Launched Implementing Public Policy

We launched Harvard Kennedy School’s first blended learning Executive Education Program Implementing Public Policy, designed to equip policymakers around the world with both the skills to analyze policies, as well as the field-tested tools and tactics to successfully implement them. This is a 7-month long program where you work on your implementation challenge.

Began collaboration with RISE

We began a collaboration with the RISE (Research on Improving Systems of Education) Programme to better understand how education systems build capability, innovate, and improve their practices.

Translated the PDIA Toolkit into Spanish

Responding to the demand of making our PDIA Toolkit accessible in other languages, BSC officially launched the Spanish Caja de Herramientas PDIA complete with subtitled videos, marking the first PDIA toolkit translation. 15 students in Tegucigalpa, Honduras piloted and tested our translated toolkit.

Released the PDIA Toolkit

To make our PDIA approach publicly available, accessible, and easy to digest, we created the PDIA Toolkit, a comprehensive, DIY resource for solving complex problems. We also hosted a launch event at HKS.

Taught our first PDIA in Action (MLD103) course at HKS

This HKS degree program course, co-taught by Matt Andrews and Salimah Samji, is a field-lab class where students learn a research-oriented version of PDIA by working on public problems – they learn by doing. Over seven weeks, students work alongside their authorizer, adopt a problem driven approach, and develop an action strategy using the PDIA framework.

Built capability for policy implementation in Honduras

We were invited by the Government of Honduras to help build the capability for policy implementation in Honduras using the PDIA approach. We worked with 7 teams of civil servants on key problems related to energy, agricultural exports, tourism, access to capital for SMEs, and the business climate.

Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett, and Michael Woolcock wrote and published Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action 

Collaborated with CABRI

We began our two-year engagement with Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI), an intergovernmental organization based in South Africa, to build capability for public financial management reform in Africa.

Engaged with the government of Sri Lanka 

Our work with the government of Sri Lanka aimed to build the capabilities to proactively promote and facilitate Foreign Direct Investment. The project completed in 2017 with 64 Sri Lankan government officials and 39 economic attaches/diplomats successfully completing the program.

Convened a second DDD workshop

The goal of this workshop was to draw out lessons learned and chart a way forward for actors interested in how to do development differently.

Offered the first free PDIA online course

We launched our first free online course in an attempt to address the increasing demand for the PDIA approach to solving complex development problems.

Co-hosted the Doing Development Differently (DDD) workshop

We co-hosted the DDD workshop with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). The aim of the event was to build a shared community of practice, and to crystallize what we are learning about doing development differently from practical experience. The workshop ended with a strong call for developing a manifesto. The DDD Manifesto was released in November 2014.

Published Contributing to a Problem Driven Project in Mozambique

This insight note was a result of work Matt Andrews had done from 2012 – 2014 and was the first real experimentation of what PDIA looks like in practice.

Recorded 35 short videos capturing key PDIA concepts 

Launched project work in Albania

We started working in Albania to help the government implement a growth strategy. This project was completed in 2017, with 131 government officials trained in 10 ministries and agencies.

Hosted the Untying Development workshop at Harvard

In this workshop, participants discussed the challenge of creating a governance agenda focused on solving country-specific problems with local people and emphasized learning by doing.

Started the BSC blog

Founded Building State Capability (BSC)

BSC was founded by Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett, and Salimah Samji at the Center for International Development at Harvard Kennedy School. From the beginning, Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) has been at the heart of our mission.

Received our founding grant from UNU-WIDER

We received our founding grant from United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER).