written by Salimah Samji It’s February and 2018 feels like a long time ago! Last year, I wrote my first annual stock taking blog and I’ve been meaning to write a follow up since early January, but 2019 has been off to an incredibly busy start. As you may know, we are small team of…Continue Reading 10 new things we did in 2018
Registration for our free PDIA online course is now closed
We are delighted to announce that we will be offering The Practice of PDIA: Building Capability by Delivering Results once again, from February 3 – May 19, 2019. This is a 15-week course for practitioners who are in the weeds of development and actually want to learn how to do PDIA. In this course you will have the opportunity…Continue Reading Registration for our free PDIA online course is now closed
How often do public policies really fail? A question to help you escape the policy futility trap
written by Matt Andrews Last week I blogged about the ‘public policy futility trap’ in which countries get stuck when a negative feedback loop institutionalizes itself in the public policy domain. Experiences of past policy failure erodes the confidence (of citizens and public officials) to deliver in future, which undermines the potential for positive future…Continue Reading How often do public policies really fail? A question to help you escape the policy futility trap
Implementing Public Policy: Is it possible to escape the ‘Public Policy Futility’ trap?
written by Matt Andrews Polls suggest that governments across the world face high levels of citizen dissatisfaction, and low levels of citizen trust. The 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer found, for instance, that only 43% of those surveyed trust Canada’s government. Only 15% of those surveyed trust government in South Africa, and levels are low in…Continue Reading Implementing Public Policy: Is it possible to escape the ‘Public Policy Futility’ trap?
Introducing the PDIA Toolkit

written by Salimah Samji In 2009, we began to explore how to do PDIA in the real world. Our early engagements helped us learn, develop and refine our tools – some of our key ideas (problem construction, problem driven convening, problem deconstruction, sequencing, action pushes etc.) emerged from this process. In 2012, the Building State…Continue Reading Introducing the PDIA Toolkit
Announcing our newest online course: Creating Public Value
We are delighted to announce that we will be offering a brand new free online course entitled Creating Public Value, from October 7 – December 2, 2018. The course will be taught by Mark H. Moore, Professor of Strategic Public Management at the Harvard Kennedy School. This is an 8-week course for individuals who have executive responsibility in government…Continue Reading Announcing our newest online course: Creating Public Value
Registration for our free PDIA online course has closed
We are delighted to announce that we will be offering The Practice of PDIA: Building Capability by Delivering Results once again, from September 2 – December 16, 2018. This is a 15-week course for practitioners who are in the weeds of development and actually want to learn how to do PDIA. In this course you will have the…Continue Reading Registration for our free PDIA online course has closed
INOVASI’s experience with PDIA to solve the wicked hard problem of basic education in Indonesia
written by Mark Heyward During the first half of 2018, a group of 21 development practitioners from the Innovation for Indonesia’s School Children (INOVASI) program and partners, formed cross-program groups and completed the intensive, 15-week online course conducted by the Building State Capability program at Harvard’s Centre for International Development, called ‘Practice of PDIA; Building…Continue Reading INOVASI’s experience with PDIA to solve the wicked hard problem of basic education in Indonesia
PDIA Anthem Part 2

We are delighted to share our new fun PDIA Anthem that you can add to your summer playlist! As you can see, we’ve iterated and adapted our music style from our first PDIA Anthem….Continue Reading PDIA Anthem Part 2
Account based accountability and Aid Effectiveness

written by Lant Pritchett Improving “accountability” has been a popular agenda for improving public sector performance for some time, and I have promoted accountability as a key to effectiveness myself. In reviewing Dan Honig’s new book, Navigation by Judgment: Why and When Top Down Management of Foreign Aid Doesn’t Work, I want to make a…Continue Reading Account based accountability and Aid Effectiveness