Two weeks ago we blogged about a fascinating event taking place in Arusha, convened by World Vision, which aimed to explore how complex adaptive systems thinking can be used to transform approaches to rural development. Below is a round-up of the event. Special thanks are due to Miriam Booy of World Vision for both synthesising the material [...]
Archive for the ‘Resilience’ Category
Towards the Twig-Frame: Update on Complex Adaptive System Conference in Arusha 31st Sept – 3rd September
Posted in Agriculture, Evaluation, Facilitation, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Meetings, Organisations, Resilience, Self organisation, Strategy on September 20, 2010 | 5 Comments »
IMPROV-ing Aid Through Creative Rigour
Posted in Chaos, Facilitation, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Resilience, Self organisation on September 7, 2010 | 8 Comments »
Lessons from theatrical improvisation have clear parallels with group dynamics in other social systems, including aid agencies… Outside of work, theatre is one of my main passions. In my tentative attempts to learn more about different aspects of stagecraft, I have stumbled across some fascinating thinking which is of real relevance for Aid on the [...]
Governance, Ecosystems and Livelihoods: New Strategies for Transformational Development
Posted in Agriculture, Facilitation, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Organisations, Resilience, Strategy on August 31, 2010 | 2 Comments »
This week sees what promises to be a fascinating event bringing together practitioners and scientists to reflect on issues of complex adaptive systems and rural development, organised by World Vision Canada in Arusha. The three day conference has a special focus on the lessons from an innovative programme to enhance aid agency staff and community leaders [...]
The Aid Leadership Paradox
Posted in Facilitation, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Networks, Organisations, Resilience, Self organisation, Strategy on August 24, 2010 | 5 Comments »
“In these troubled, uncertain times, we don’t need more command and control; we need better means to engage everyone’s intelligence in solving challenges and crises as they arise.” Traditional perspectives on leadership are based on a view of organisations as mechanical systems. Organisations are made up of prescriptive rules, formalised control mechanisms and hierarchical authority [...]
From the Neoclassical Logic Piano to All That Jazz
Posted in Economics, Evolution, Financial crisis, Innovation, Public Policy, Resilience, tagged Agent-Based Modelling, Earthquakes on August 3, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Over on Rethinking Development Economics, a recent post highlights a provocative speech by Dr DeLisle Worrell, Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados. Worrell focused on the problems with economics today, with much of his talk given over to ‘complexity economics‘. To quote directly from Worrell: Our theories can’t deal with reality, so we ignore the real [...]
What happens when you are busy making other plans
Posted in Climate change, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Public Policy, Reports and Studies, Resilience, Strategy on April 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
John Lennon famously quipped that life was what happened when you were busy making other plans. A new book Dynamic Sustainabilities: Technology, Environment, Social Justice from the fantastic STEPS centre at the University of Sussex focuses on how much the same contradiction plays out in the global movements toward development, environmental sustainability and social justice. [...]
“There is no such thing as a natural disaster”: crises, complexity and the role of theory
Posted in Knowledge and learning, Natural disasters, Networks, Organisations, Public Policy, Reports and Studies, Resilience on February 3, 2010 | 4 Comments »
In the few weeks following the Haiti earthquake, much of our work at ALNAP has focused on getting key operational lessons from previous earthquakes into the hands and minds of operational agency staff, and briefing media representatives on a variety of issues related to the relief and recovery work. As the initial signs of some kind [...]
Coping with Complexity in Agricultural Water Management
Posted in Agriculture, Institutions, Reports and Studies, Resilience, Water on January 12, 2010 | 1 Comment »
An 2009 IFAD report highlights the importance of complexity for improving agricultural water management. It suggests that conventional project management approaches are not suitable for coping with complexity-oriented interventions, and also emphasises the importance of combining professional competence and complexity-related capabilities for achieving programmatic success. The paper is ‘geared towards promoting further discussions and reflections, [...]
Bank of England Director uses complexity theory to explain global financial crisis
Posted in Economics, Financial crisis, Networks, Public Policy, Resilience, Strategy on December 16, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Andrew Haldane, Executive Director of Financial Stability at the Bank of England gave a speech earlier this year which focused on the idea of the global financial system as a complex adaptive system. In his speech, Haldane focuses on applying the lessons from other network disciplines – such as ecology, epidemiology, biology and engineering – to [...]
An Equation for Copenhagen: Conformity + Rapid Change = Collapse
Posted in Climate change, Public Policy, Resilience, Strategy on December 1, 2009 | 3 Comments »
American scientists using agent-based modeling techniques have linked excessive conformity to societal collapse and even mass extinction. The implications for the Copenhagen negotiations next week seem stark. The researchers at Dalhousie University and the University of California-Davis have modeled how well different learning strategies work in different learning environments, and found that under certain circumstances societies can be [...]
