The Building State Capability (BSC) program researches strategies and tactics to build the capability of public organizations to implement policies and programs.
BSC has developed the Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) approach, a process of facilitated emergence which focuses on problems (not solutions) and follows a step by step process (not a rigid plan) that allows for flexible learning and adaptation. PDIA is a learning by doing approach that helps organizations develop the capability to solve complex problems while they are actually solving such problems.
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The Building State Capability (BSC) program researches strategies and tactics to build the capability of public organizations to implement policies and programs.
BSC has developed the Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) approach, a process of facilitated emergence which focuses on problems (not solutions) and follows a step by step process (not a rigid plan) that allows for flexible learning and adaptation. PDIA is a learning by doing approach that helps organizations develop the capability to solve complex problems while they are actually solving such problems.
A Decade of Building State Capability - Andrew Lawson
Building State Capability Podcast
35 minutes 36 seconds
2 years ago
A Decade of Building State Capability - Andrew Lawson
The “Decade of Building State Capability” podcast series features interviews with practitioners who reflect on their experience using the PDIA approach and their engagement with Building State Capability over the past 10 years.
On today's episode, BSC Director Salimah Samji interviews Andrew Lawson. Andrew is an economist and public finance specialist, who has spent his career working in Developing and Transition countries, helping to improve public policies and public finance management (PFM) systems. He is Technical Director of Fiscus, UK – a consultancy and research company focused on public finance issues, and was previously the Director of the Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure (CAPE) at ODI, London. He has worked for 47 governments across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America and has also undertaken a range of evaluations of capacity building programmes for international organisations, including the EU, the World Bank, the IMF and, more recently the Gates Foundation, for whom he led an evaluation of the application of PDIA techniques to public finance problems in Africa. This was recently published in World Development Perspectives as a joint research paper, with his colleague, Dr. Jamelia Harris. Andrew has a BA (Honours) in Economics from Cambridge University and a Master’s Degree in Development Economics from the University of East Anglia, UK. He is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, and works regularly in these languages.
Building State Capability Podcast
The Building State Capability (BSC) program researches strategies and tactics to build the capability of public organizations to implement policies and programs.
BSC has developed the Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) approach, a process of facilitated emergence which focuses on problems (not solutions) and follows a step by step process (not a rigid plan) that allows for flexible learning and adaptation. PDIA is a learning by doing approach that helps organizations develop the capability to solve complex problems while they are actually solving such problems.