Supporting women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan

Guest blog by Renata Rubian

1. What are some key ideas/learnings that you will take away from this course?

I have truly enjoyed my experience with the Harvard Leading Economic Growth course. It is a pleasure to experience the dynamics between the brilliant duo – Prof. Ricardo Hausmann and Prof. Matt Andrews – given their approaches and explanations are complementary. Some of my key take away include:

(i) Understanding inequality as a significant cost and impediment to sustainable economic growth, which elevates the need to think about how to generate shared prosperity and growth that is inclusive by looking at multidimensional aspects of inequality. These include disparity on income, inequalities because of gender, geography (spatiality), digital divide, inequalities of capabilities (capacities differ among individuals, institutions, societies), etc.

(ii) The need to understand a problem before attempting to think of a solution. Understanding that a complex problem can be broken in bite sizes, but the nature of the problem also evolves, and it is important that understanding a problem is an iterative process (that also adapts and evolves). The dynamic nature of a development problem is important to highlight. Once a constraint/bottleneck is removed, another constraint starts to become more binding and so forth. By identifying the binding constraints, prioritizing and sequencing them – this process makes it more feasible for countries to tackle complex situations.

(iii) The role of public investments to facilitate transformational shifts, including the need for a high bandwidth organization that is capable to facilitate connections and information across sectors/knowledge areas etc.  

Apply for our Implementing Public Policy Program!

Are you a public policymaker frustrated with the limited impact of your government’s policies? Do you see many policy ideas starting out with promise but ending up incomplete or ineffectively implemented? Are you trying to improve implementation? If so, you are not alone.

Join with peers from around the globe for a dynamic, highly engaging blended learning format of Implementing Public Policy (IPP) offering a combination of both online and in-person learning, as well as applied action learning —where participants will have time to work on their implementation challenge, apply their learning to their own context, reflect on their experiences, share and learn, and become part of a global community of practice.

Embracing discomfort and finding a path forward

Guest blog by Diana C. Tello Medina

I must confess that I knew a little bit about what to expect when I joined the IPP course. I had the opportunity to take another Harvard course, co-chaired by Matt, and he teased me. The more I learned about this new methodology, the more I wanted to know how it worked, how it has worked in different contexts, what the secrets were, and how could I implement it.

I honestly didn’t know what I was about to go through. I love wake-up calls, I love getting out of my comfort zone. I always say that I feel uncomfortable when it starts feeling comfortable. And this course was exactly that: a methodology on how to never get comfortable. A methodology on how to dig deeper into the root causes of problems, knowing that those answers could take you into many directions. Into directions where you, your authorizers, your colleagues, the people you care about, may not want to go. Into directions where you WILL have to disappoint someone. Always. But you know it’s your duty, because you care, because that’s what you signed up for when you decided to care, because turning around is comfortable, and you don’t like that.

Digging Deep into the Policy Challenge Paves the way to Overcome

Guest blog by Teshome Mengesha Marra

When I first receive my acceptance letter to this worldwide executive education program, I had no detail information on its modality and contents. I thought that the program would be provided through lecture notes, discussions, assignments, and maybe a final exam because in many of my past educational pathways these kinds of formats were very common. Even in some of my short term education and training at various institutions, I have experienced more theoretical discussion and presentation rather a look at certain specific areas of practical aspects.

Breaking down an insurmountable challenge in Afghanistan

Guest blog by Gonzalo Pizarro

I joined the Leading Economic Growth (LEG) executive education course along with two colleagues from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with a growth challenge which seemed clear yet insurmountable: Providing the city of Kabul, in Afghanistan with an economic growth strategy after the government collapse, deterioration of security, massive exodus of people, and freezing of international aid, which represented 43% of GDP in 2019.

“Lack of political will across the board to negotiate a solution” – and – “nothing can be done until the security situation improves” were the two tenets that were a given entering the course.

During the 10 weeks of the LEG course, my approach to solving the problem radically changed. First, I was asked to define the problem. My first definition was objected to, as it contained a solution in it. I had to keep iterating the definition of the problem for several weeks, up until the growth problem was exactly that, a growth problem.

Addressing economic growth in the Middle East

Guest blog by Anton Osin

The course has been a journey, and it has exceeded my expectations as it provided me with deeper understanding of several economic concepts and gave me exposure to HKS faculty and peers students from across the globe. The intensity of this course and the volume of information gradually transformed into quality and deeper understand of economic concepts and case studies.

Building resilience into U.S. government functions

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 make this opportunity available. Even more, I was excited to spend a week in Cambridge with a diverse group of professionals from across the country and the world. The experience would be enriching . . . and a few good meals in Boston’s North End would be pretty nice, too. 

Lacking stakeholder engagement in policy-making process in Turkey

Guest blog by Emir Gelen

IPP Program Journey: Empathizing with peers from public sector

As a young public policy professional having seen and worked both in government and private sectors a little more than 10 years of experience, I have been always aware of the importance of self-development. The COVID-19 period has changed the way of doing business, social interactions as well as corporate cultures and even the running of bureaucracy. Besides the heartbroken outcomes and drastic impacts of the pandemic process, I believe that the “new normals” of our daily lives have provided us a new opportunity of using our time more efficiently. The company I am working for has a principle called “Learn and Be Curious” which tells us that leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. I am a person with high curiosity about new possibilities, so this is how I decided to enroll in Harvard Kennedy School’s Implementing Public Policy Executive Education program.

Improving economic complexity and diversity in Afghanistan

Guest blog by Rishi Chakraborty

There are several key learnings that I will take away from this course. The first key learning for me was the novel way of thinking about development from the perspective of economic complexity and diversity, especially in terms of production/exports through the analogy of the forest with “branches”, “peripheries”, and “central clusters” of the Product Space. In all of my years of having studied economics at the BA and MA levels, this analogy of a forest and “monkeys” in the Product Space has been the most intuitive that I have encountered to date to describe a country’s economic growth challenges, and its simplicity and ingenuity will ensure that I will remember this concept for the rest of my life. Indeed, I am incredibly grateful that Professor Hausmann, Professor Matt Andrews, and the entire team at HKS LEG has shared this concept with us! 

The Brilliant Citizen and the Economist: Learnings from Leading Economic Growth

Guest blog by Esther Adegunle

Brilliant Citizen: My dear Economist, I have not seen you in a very long time. What is going on?

Economist: I had a baby about 3 months ago. Also, I was engaged in a program at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS).

Brilliant Citizen: Wow, congratulations to you and the family. You mean you were attending a training after giving birth?

Economist: Thank you. It was quite an intensive one. I am thankful for my support system, they made it possible for me to attend. Also, the training was online, so I did not need to travel.

Brilliant Citizen: Oh, that is good. Did you say Harvard, the one and only Harvard?

Economist: It was facilitated by Harvard Kennedy School. It was a 10-week course on Leading Economic Growth.