doing development differently

Experimenting with innovation and accelerating development in Vietnam. In conversation with UNDP’s Ida Uusikylä

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 […]

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Education during the COVID-19 crisis: Opportunities and constraints of using EdTech in low-income countries

During this time of crisis, education will not be business-as-usual, and EdTech alone cannot close the learning gap. It will be dedicated teachers and resilient educators who will ensure learning doesn’t stop — but they could be helped by the right EdTech tools

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Education in a pandemic: five messages that Australia’s aid program could consider now – Governance and Development Soapbox

After much debate in the media about whether it is safe for the community, teachers and children themselves to continue going to school,[1] the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria in Australia are going ahead with student-free schooling. Whilst the symptoms and deaths of children from COVID-19 have been lower in comparison to other ages groups

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Sensemaking and portfolios – two important concepts when facing wicked and complex problems

In 2013, Richard Hummelbrunner and Harry Jones asked: “How can policy makers, managers and practitioners best plan in the face of complexity?” Seven years later the search for answers to that question continues through different initiatives and programmes. For example, the Doing Development Differently Manifesto was published at the end of 2014. Matt Andrews and

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Podcast – Bridging education research with policy and practice. In conversation with Prof. Elina Lehtomäki of the University of Oulu

Every year I travel a couple of times north to the city of Oulu to give a class on development theories to the master students at the Faculty of Education at the University. The master course is part of the work of the interdisciplinary research group called Education, Diversity, Globalisation and Ethics. The group examines

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A question about policy experiments and adaptive development

I have a question about policy experiments and adaptive development that came to me after reading this article by George Monbiot in the Guardian: We won’t save the Earth with a better kind of disposable coffee cup. He writes about Starbucks and Costa and that they have been thinking about replacing their plastic coffee cups with

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MLE or MEL in adaptive programming?

I was in Manila last week to attend the practitioners’ forum organised by the Asia Foundation on Adaptive Programming and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning. A really good workshop where to share of experiences about tailoring MEL systems to fit the accountability demands from funders and support the adaptation and iteration of programmes. In attendance there

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Adaptive programming at scale: a discussion at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

I was in Helsinki last week for a presentation and discussion at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. This was part of the yearly Studia Generalia, a series of seminars organised by the Ministry and the Finnish Society for Development Research where researchers have the opportunity to meet staff of the Ministry and discuss various aspects

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