Last week saw a remarkable meeting in Washington, bringing together USAID staff with scientists and practitioners working on complex systems. This post reflects on the event and outlines some of the emerging lessons. Background There have been a number of meetings on the topic of complexity and development in different locations around the world in [...]
Archive for the ‘Organisations’ Category
USAID’s Complexity Journey
Posted in Conflict and peace building, Evaluation, Innovation, Leadership, Meetings, Organisations, Public Policy, Strategy on October 17, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Results 2.0: Towards a portfolio-based approach
Posted in Accountability, Evaluation, Healthcare, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Malaria, Meetings, Organisations, Public Policy, Strategy on June 30, 2011 | 7 Comments »
The international development sector has been in a tug of war around the ‘results agenda’ for the past few months. This post explores the tensions and suggests a way to bring the sides together by focusing on the relevance and appropriateness of different approaches.* I: The Results Tug of War Development results is one of many [...]
Gender bias as an emergent property in international agencies
Posted in Gender, Institutions, Leadership, Organisations on June 1, 2011 | 12 Comments »
UPDATE 03/05/2011 – Shotgunshack has posted a great piece on this issue as it plays out in INGOs – check out ‘Gender and NGOs – Pretty on Paper’ Most international agencies backed International Women’s Day in March, and – some valid concerns about the political appropriation of the gender movement aside – this is right and [...]
The Humanitarian Groundhog Day
Posted in Chaos, Evolution, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Meetings, Natural disasters, Networks, Organisations, Public Policy, Self organisation on March 24, 2011 | 14 Comments »
Humanitarian coordination has been described in a new ODI paper as a ‘wicked problem’ which demands new and radical solutions. This post explores the longstanding incentive issues underlying the lack of effective coordination and suggests possible ways forward. In a paper published last year, Michael Barnett and I argued that the humanitarian system was stuck in much the [...]
Whose Paradigm Counts? Guest Post 2 of 2 By Robert Chambers
Posted in Accountability, Evolution, Facilitation, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Networks, Organisations, Public Policy, Strategy, Technology on February 15, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Expanding Paradigms In my first post in this two part guest series, I presented an account of the contrast between ‘things’ and ‘people’ as it was framed in my 1997 book Whose Reality Counts? and as many people in the development sector still perceive it. As numerous responses – both here and on other fora [...]
The globalisation of vulnerability
Posted in Agriculture, Climate change, Conflict and peace building, Economics, Financial crisis, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Natural disasters, Organisations, Public Policy, Resilience on January 11, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Most analysts agree that globalisation has become more intensive and dramatic in recent decades because of advances in technology, communications, science and transportation. While it can be a catalyst for development and progress, globalisation also carries significant and increasing challenges for aid policy makers and practitioners alike. I: The new face of vulnerability? Recent years [...]
An interview on complexity and aid
Posted in Agriculture, Biology, Chaos, Innovation, Organisations, Public Policy on January 6, 2011 | 1 Comment »
…Because of our urgency to end poverty, we act as if development is a construction, a matter of planning and engineering, rather the complex and often opaque set of interactions that we know it to be… This is a excerpt from a recent interview I gave to Dennis Whittle (former CEO of Global Giving). Click [...]
When Can Crowds Outperform Aid Experts?
Posted in Biology, Campaigns, Evaluation, Innovation, Knowledge and learning, Natural disasters, Networks, Organisations, Self organisation, Technology on January 3, 2011 | 5 Comments »
When does crowdsourcing work best? New research from the Institute for Human Development provides answers which may be of relevance for aid projects and programmes. There has been a lot written, spoken and blogged about the power of crowds in making decisions. In James Surowiecki‘s bestselling Wisdom of Crowds, published in 2004, the central thesis [...]
The paradox of aid failures
Posted in Accountability, Evaluation, Evolution, Innovation, Knowledge and learning, Organisations, Public Policy on December 13, 2010 | 3 Comments »
One of the recurring themes here on Aid on the Edge of Chaos is that the complexity of real world systems is seldom recognised and acknowledged by international agencies, leading to systemic failures in aid policy and practice. The work of renowned policy analyst Russell Ackoff provides a useful way of unpacking these issues. Drawing [...]
Former USAID Afghanistan Chief looks to Complexity Science
Posted in Accountability, Chaos, Conflict and peace building, Evaluation, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Organisations, Public Policy, Strategy on October 5, 2010 | 3 Comments »
The most interesting story this week for anyone interested in complexity and aid issues is the news that Bill Frej, head of the United States Agency for International Development’s mission to Afghanistan from May 2009 until June 2010, will be the first ‘development diplomat in residence’ at the Santa Fe Institute, the leading global think-tank [...]
