BUILDING STATE CAPABILITY, led by Matt Andrews, the Edward S. Mason Senior Lecturer in International Development, works across the globe to help organizations solve complex public problems. BSC has trained and engaged with over 4,500 practitioners in 156 countries and created a community of practice for people who implement public policies around the world.
A key framework that the initiative teaches is Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA), an approach in which people identify the root causes of the problem they are addressing, identify entry points, search for possible solutions, take action, reflect, adapt, and then act again.
Recently, BSC developed a custom PDIA action-learning program for Wyoming to teach multidisciplinary teams in the state that were working on a range of issues related to economic growth—from business sustainability to attracting and retaining talent to housing affordability.
One team undertaking the training wrote, “The PDIA approach has changed how we will tackle problems in the future. The iterative process of breaking down problems into smaller parts, testing assumptions, and refining our approach will continue to be a cornerstone of our problem-solving methodology.” After going through the program, they expanded their team to bring new perspectives and build momentum and engaged state legislators to explore ways to create sustainable change.
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Banner image: Wind turbines on a cattle ranch on the outskirts of Casper, Wyoming. Photo by Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times/Getty Images; faculty portrait by Martha Stewart