written by Matt Andrews We at the Building State Capability (BSC) program have been working on PDIA experiments for five years now. These experiments have been designed to help us learn how to facilitate problem driven, iterative and adaptive work. We have learned a lot from them, and will be sharing our lessons—some happy, some frustrating,…Continue Reading PDIA Notes 1: How we have PDIA’d PDIA in the last five years
written by Salimah Samji We are delighted to announce our new PDIA: Notes from the Real World blog series. In this series we will share our lessons from our PDIA experiments over the past five years, on how to facilitate problem driven, iterative and adaptive work . We will also feature some guest blog posts from…Continue Reading The “PDIA: Notes from the Real World” blog series
written by Matt Andrews Although the benefits of experimental iteration in a PDIA process seem very apparent to most people we work with, we often hear that many development organizations make it difficult for staff to pursue such approaches, given the rigidity of logframe and other linear planning methods. We often hear that funding organizations…Continue Reading SearchFrames for Adaptive Work (More Logical than Logframes)
By Duncan Green One of the criticisms of the big picture discussion on governance that’s been going on in networks such as Doing Development Differently and “Thinking and Working Politically” is that it’s all very helicopter-ish. ‘What do I do differently on Monday morning?’, comes the frustrated cry of the practitioner. Now some really useful…Continue Reading Doing Problem Driven Work, great new guide for governance reformers and activists
Would you like a how-to guide to make your organization more effective? We are delighted to announce PDIA: Building Capability by Delivering Results, a free two-part experiential online course that will provide you with the necessary frameworks and tools that you need to do PDIA (Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation) in your context. Watch the course…Continue Reading Registration for the first PDIA online course is closed
How does the government of Indonesia make its presence felt by all 250 million citizens across the sprawling archipelago? While decentralization provides district governments the authority to address local needs, effective execution of these functions relies heavily on the capacity of the local governments to analyze service gaps and drive more coordinated efforts to address…Continue Reading PDIA in Indonesia: The new frontline service delivery policy
The importance of thinking and working politically in programs concerned with governance and institutional reform is widely recognized – but shifting from thinking politically to working politically is proving a major challenge. The State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI), a governance reform program in Nigeria, supports local partners and stakeholders not through the usual accountable…Continue Reading Rising to the challenge: Supporting PDIA in Nigeria
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
written by Salimah Samji How do you effectively monitor an 8 year, £83.5 million (around USD$135 million) challenge fund that partners with NGOs to improve the livelihood of 1 million beneficiaries? A daunting task indeed. The Economic Empowerment of the Poorest (EEP/Shiree) program is a partnership between the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the…Continue Reading EEP/Shiree: Using adaptive programming to monitor change in Bangladesh
Guest post written by Brad Cunningham Basketball players everywhere are trying their best to shoot a ball through a hoop. In pursuit of this goal, players develop their own style of shooting. The image below shows three of the greatest basketball players just as they are about to shoot. At first glance, their form looks…Continue Reading Practicing Governance: PDIA and Basketball
