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Tag: International development

Disruptive innovation is critical – but it is the opposite of what many people think it is

Disruptive innovations need to be domestically led as even a disruptive innovation that has proved successful elsewhere will need to be modified and adapted to fit and scale in each new context. Disruptive innovation is not just another “solutionism” but the recognition that each country needs to engage in its own and owned discovery process through something like PDIA…Continue Reading Disruptive innovation is critical – but it is the opposite of what many people think it is

How do you keep 100 students awake on a Friday afternoon? Fast feedback and iterative adaptation seem to work

Guest blog written by Duncan Green There’s a character in a Moliere play who is surprised and delighted to learn that he has been speaking prose all his life without knowing it. I thought of him a couple of weeks into my new role as a part-time Professor in Practice in LSE’s International Development Department, when I…Continue Reading How do you keep 100 students awake on a Friday afternoon? Fast feedback and iterative adaptation seem to work

If you want to Do Development Differently but it sounds too hard…

written by Matt Andrews Arnaldo Pellini recently wrote an interesting personal blog post about the Doing Development Differently workshop and manifesto. He concludes with, “I agree with these ideas and  I can share and discuss these ideas with the team with whom I work  but what difference can it make if the systems around us due…Continue Reading If you want to Do Development Differently but it sounds too hard…

The PDIA Anthem

Need help decoding the acronym PDIA? Check out the PDIA anthem. This Anthem uses the Instrumental from Mos Def – Mathematics. It was made by a very talented student as part of an assignment for Matt Andrews course entitled Getting Things Done in Development. We had never imagined that we could write a song about…Continue Reading The PDIA Anthem

Introducing The DDD Manifesto

We are delighted to release The DDD Manifesto as an outcome of the 2014 Doing Development Differently (DDD) workshop. In late October, a group of about 40 development professionals, implementers and funders from around the world attended the DDD workshop, to share examples where real change has been achieved. These examples employ different tools but…Continue Reading Introducing The DDD Manifesto

Contexts and Policy Implementation: 4 factors to think about

written by Matt Andrews I recently blogged about what matters about the context. Here’s a video of a class I taught on the topic at the University of Cape Town over the summer (their winter). It is a short clip where I try to flesh out the 4 factors that I look at when thinking…Continue Reading Contexts and Policy Implementation: 4 factors to think about

How can we learn when we don’t understand the problem?

written by Salimah Samji Most development practitioners think that they are working on problems. However, what they often mean by the word ‘problem’ is the ‘lack of a solution’. This leads to designing typical, business as usual interventions, without addressing the actual problem. Essentially, they sell solutions to specific problems they have identified and prioritized…Continue Reading How can we learn when we don’t understand the problem?

Why many development initiatives have achievement gaps…and what to do about this

written by Matt Andrews Yesterday I blogged about Hirschman’s Hiding Hand. As I interpret it, a central part of his idea is that many development projects: focus on solving complex problems, and only once they have started does a ‘hiding hand’ lift to show how hard the problem is to solve, but because policy-makers and…Continue Reading Why many development initiatives have achievement gaps…and what to do about this

Hirschman’s Hiding Hand and Problem Driven Change

written by Matt Andrews I referred to Albert Hirschman’s work on the “Principle of the Hiding Hand” in my class today. It is a great principle, and has real application when thinking about PDIA and problem driven change. In his essay, “The Principle of the Hiding Hand” Hirschman argues that creative solutions most frequently come from adapting…Continue Reading Hirschman’s Hiding Hand and Problem Driven Change