Huge thanks to Alanna Shaikh for peer review comments and edits Back in 1997, Robert Chambers argued that top-down attempts to manage complex processes of change have not worked in development aid. …Development projects can be paralysed by overloads at their centres of control…[generating] dependency, resentment, high costs, low morale and actions which cannot be sustained’ [...]
Archive for the ‘Strategy’ Category
Scan HIV-AIDS Globally, Reinvent Approaches Locally
Posted in Evolution, Healthcare, Innovation, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Public Policy, Strategy on December 2, 2010 | 7 Comments »
The simplicity on the far side of complexity
Posted in Biology, Conflict and peace building, Knowledge and learning, Networks, Public Policy, Strategy on November 13, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Most readers will know this image, now iconic for all the wrong reasons (and blogged about here earlier this year) We shouldn’t groan when we see such images, we should be excited. A three minute TED talk by ecologist Eric Berlow explains why, using approaches from his work in natural systems. The presentation left me reflecting [...]
SciDev: Development Needs Systems Thinking
Posted in Accountability, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, MDGs, Public Policy, Strategy, Technology on November 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Last weeks editorial on SciDev, the leading source of authoritative information on science and technology for development, focused on the need for ‘holistic approaches’ in development. Specifically, it argued that developing countries need more joined-up systems thinking to promote growth and reduce poverty, and that donor agencies needed to find ways of supporting such efforts. One positive move [...]
Owen Barder on “What can development policy learn from evolution?”
Posted in Evolution, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Public Policy, Strategy on October 27, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Another fantastic presentation from Owen, he very kindly cites Aid on the Edge of Chaos on the opening slide… http://www.owen.org/blog/4018
Land is not Linear: Towards the Brown Revolution
Posted in Agriculture, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Public Policy, Resilience, Self organisation, Strategy on October 22, 2010 | 1 Comment »
This year’s Buckminster Fuller Prize winner, Operation Hope, has seen the transformation of 6,500 acres of parched and degraded grasslands in Zimbabwe into healthy pastures despite extended periods of drought. The story behind Operation Hope is an inspiring one with real insights on how complexity science concepts can help transform development practices on the ground. First, the background to the [...]
War on cancer, war on poverty
Posted in Healthcare, Innovation, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, MDGs, Public Policy, Strategy on October 7, 2010 | 1 Comment »
This weeks presentation is a 2009 TedMed talk by David Agus on the application of complexity science to cancer research. The talk focuses on the limitations of trying to understand cancer using reductionist thinking and how this limits potentially significant advances. Agus illustrates this dramatically, showing that since 1950, after more than half a century of [...]
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 [...]
Pushing back against linearity
Posted in Accountability, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Meetings, Organisations, Public Policy, Strategy on September 29, 2010 | 7 Comments »
The Big Push Back was convened last week by the Participation and Social Change team at IDS. With over 70 attendees, the theme of the day was to reflect on and develop strategies for ’pushing back’ against the increasingly dominant bureacratisation of the development agenda. As the meeting background note put it: Development NGOs and researchers are [...]
The Dolt’s Guide to Self Organisation
Posted in Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Networks, Organisations, Self organisation, Strategy on September 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
This week’s presentation is a lovely piece of work by Jurgen Appelo of Management 3.0 fame.
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 »
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 [...]
