written by Matt Andrews When the storm, wind and rain, of crisis is coming (or has come), how do you start to lead? Building on my earlier blog post, we are sharing two posts today with some rapid ideas on how leading organizations, towns, cities, regions and countries might start thinking about leadership in the face of…Continue Reading Public Leadership Through Crisis 2: Know your motivation, put communications and key people first
Public Leadership Through Crisis 1: Can public leaders navigate high winds and big waves in little boats?

written by Matt Andrews Governments are most important in times of public crisis. This is where individuals—no matter how talented or self-reliant—look to their governments for help; to empower or use or deploy the powers and potentialities of the collective on behalf of that collective. But many people tasked with leading public organizations in times…Continue Reading Public Leadership Through Crisis 1: Can public leaders navigate high winds and big waves in little boats?
Finding Family through Process Improvement in the U.S.
Guest blog written by Maggie Jones Trey’s words hung in the air. Would you like to go to Harvard? A million thoughts ran through my head as I watched the unsuspecting traffic pass outside my office. Of course I wanted to go. I had to go. As soon as “yes” stumbled out of my mouth…Continue Reading Finding Family through Process Improvement in the U.S.
Motivation Sustains Passion the PDIA way
Guest blog written by Upamanyu Basu I am a career bureaucrat from India and my job responsibilities have always revolved around implementing public policy – whether in my postings in my parent department i.e. Income tax Department or in my secondments to the Ministry of Human Resource Development and now in the Ministry of Fisheries,…Continue Reading Motivation Sustains Passion the PDIA way
The Legitimacy of Performance and Problem Oriented Institutional Development in Ethiopia

Guest blog written by Etambuyu A Gundersen I had very high expectations of the course and what I was going to get out of it in terms of gaining not only new knowledge but also important skills in policy implementation that would assist me in my job. The course went above and beyond my expectations….Continue Reading The Legitimacy of Performance and Problem Oriented Institutional Development in Ethiopia
Solving Complex Problems in Albany
Guest blog written by David Galin Coming into this course, I was under the impression it was going to help me better understand the nuances of implementing policy from a roadmap that was created for every situation. I was a bit nervous we would be taught a rigid set of procedures on how to implement…Continue Reading Solving Complex Problems in Albany
Three Lessons of PDIA, or the Art of Public Policy
Guest blog written by Olga Yulikova It is not surprising to anyone who is a part of the PDIA community that Matt Andrew’s book Building State Capability uses medical metaphors and examples to describe public policy. Like Matt, I too believe that policy-making is a form of therapy for society’s ailments. (Wouldn’t be great if…Continue Reading Three Lessons of PDIA, or the Art of Public Policy
Disaster Resilience in Australia

Guest blog written Jorida Zeneli When I came to IPP my motivation level was at the lowest it had been in a decade. After two years of struggle to revamp the policies that underpin resource allocation, operating on the edge of the established processes, knocking on many doors, speaking to many people, pouring a lot…Continue Reading Disaster Resilience in Australia
Improving Roadside Ecology in Calgary
Guest blog written by Andrew McIntyre Public policy is hard. Mitigating climate change as biodiversity continues to decline, tackling growing wealth inequality, and building a healthy, pluralistic society in the face of rising authoritarian populist movements across the world are just some of the most significant problems facing governments in 2019. These problems are complex,…Continue Reading Improving Roadside Ecology in Calgary
Improving Tax Compliance in Uganda
Guest blog written by Doris Akol My previous experience with public policy has hitherto been mainly as a formulator of organizational policies which are then implemented by other units and more recently as a first hand implementer of fiscal policies passed by the Government for revenue collection. Frankly speaking, I had never quite addressed my…Continue Reading Improving Tax Compliance in Uganda