One of the nicer aspects of exploring, reading and learning about systems thinking and complexity is to discover interesting blogs, papers and books and to get in touch with the authors to learn more about their points of view and their journeys into systems. Some months ago, one of my Google searches brought me to […]
The design and implementation of development initiatives in support of policy and governance reforms often contends with systems of interlinked problems and non-linear and unpredictable change processes (Harry Jones 2011).
War and conflict have systemic impacts on higher education: there is physical damage as universities are attacked or occupied by armed groups; loss of life and forced displacement of academic staff and students; and institutional weakening as post-conflict financial resources are allocated to basic services first. Although this is slowly changing, higher education systems are often not a priority during post-conflict recovery.
What does it mean for a government to invest and research megatrends? How does it help to prepare the governance system of tomorrow? To what extent are megatrends taken into consideration in international development research and programming? I have met Elina Kiiski– Kataja and Tony Addison at the Oodi Library in Helsinki to discuss these questions.
I met with Petri Uusikylä to learn more about how his interest in complexity had evolved and how it influences his view of evaluating development and social change
The brave new world of evaluating innovation. In conversation with Petri Uusikylä Read More »
Innovation is a confusing buzzword. There is no clarity and that what innovation is can be very subjective. Is the lack of a clear definition of innovation a problem in terms of evaluating innovation? What do the evaluators of innovation look for when they are called in to do their work?
How to evaluate innovation? In conversation with Jordi del Bas Read More »
Vietnam is one of 60 countries where UNDP has established Accelerator Labs. The aim is to instil innovation principles and approaches into the work of the projects that UNDP implements and into the way UNDP works. At the end of January, I went to Helsinki to participate in a two-day workshop on sensemaking and innovation
As of today, there are more than 2.17 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally. The pandemic has spread at an unprecedented speed to more than 190 countries around the world. By the end of March 2020, over 180 countries had closed down their schools. Governments are taking action around the world to manage school closures,
Systems thinking in a time of crisis. In conversation with SITRA Lab’s Mikael Seppälä Read More »