Championing Social Public Partnership Frameworks in Africa

Guest blog by Carolyn Kandusi, IPP ’25

When I joined Harvard Kennedy School’s Implementing Public Policy (IPP) program, my goal was clear: sharpen my policy acumen before fully launching Policy Innovation Lab Africa (PIL-A). As a social sector leader who has spent years building solutions, mobilizing capital, and driving social sector impact, I knew that moving into the public policy space required more than vision—it required legitimacy, frameworks, and the discipline to engage with government systems at their own pace. I thought IPP would simply provide me with the technical tools to support that ambition.

Evolving Electricity Distribution Network Roles in Australia

Guest blog by Mayank Grover, IPP ’25

When I applied for the Implementing Public Policy (IPP) program, the biggest doubt I had was whether this course would be too theoretical or academic. The problem-driven iterative adaptation concept seemed a bit alien to the public policy or economic regulation in which I have been working for most of my career. Then came day 2 at the Harvard Kennedy School campus, when the penny dropped. I discovered this was about the problem, getting to really know about it, discovering how to bring about change. A change where success isn’t just about making it better, it’s also about working with other people.

Building Rights-Based Frameworks in Fiscal Decisions in Buenos Aires

Guest blog by Maria Agostina Cacault, IPP ’25

When I began the Implementing Public Policy program at Harvard Kennedy School in May 2025, I thought I understood my challenge: there was a “lack of human rights and gender perspective in the legal proceedings of Buenos Aires Province State Attorney’s Office.” Like many of us working in public policy, I believed the problem was primarily about awareness – people simply didn’t know about rights-based approaches or weren’t convinced of their importance. 

Event: Lessons in State Capacity from Delhi’s Schools

In this talk hosted at HKS on November 3rd, Yamini Aiyar, senior fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute and former president of the Center for Policy Research in Delhi, discusses her book Lessons in State Capacity from Delhi’s Schools and shares her path from a pivotal 2010 meeting in Bihar to a groundbreaking three-year ethnographic study of Delhi’s government schools. The story begins when Aiyar noticed a contradiction: RCT evidence showed that teachers in Bihar could improve student learning in controlled summer camps using “teaching at the right level” methods, yet these same teachers failed to sustain any improvements when returning to regular classrooms. Instead of accepting the conventional explanations for teacher incompetence or lack of political will, Aiyar recognized something more profound: the same people behaving differently in different contexts suggested a systemic problem within the bureaucracy itself. When Delhi’s new government made education reform a political priority in 2016, Aiyar took the opportunity to conduct a study of 337 classroom observations across 8 schools, 200 teacher surveys, and an analysis of 2,000 government circulars over three years. She sought to document what really happens inside the black box of India’s education bureaucracy.

Low Student Participation in STEM Careers in the Dominican Republic

Guest blog by Abel Capellan Almonte, IPP ’25

I entered IPP with a simple story in my head: students “don’t like” STEM. After months of PDIA, I think that story is convenient but wrong. The problem is not a single decision made by a teenager. It is a system that quietly pushes them toward safer, more visible paths. If we want higher STEM participation, we must argue with the system, not with the student.

Strengthening Healthy School Nutrition Policy in Abu Dhabi, UAE

Guest blog by Mariam Alkarbi, IPP ’25

When I joined the Implementing Public Policy (IPP) program, I was eager to work on an issue close to my heart: improving school food environments in Abu Dhabi. Childhood obesity is one of the UAE’s most pressing public health challenges, and while we already have nutrition guidelines and policies in place, implementation has remained inconsistent. Schools often continue to expose children to unhealthy food environments in both direct and indirect ways.  

At first, I saw this as a technical problem: if only we had clearer rules, stronger enforcement, and better planning, things would improve. But through IPP, I learned that the real challenge was deeper, it was adaptive, complex, and dynamic, involving multiple stakeholders with different incentives, behaviors, and priorities.  

Highlights from the 2025 Implementing Public Policy Program

In June, we welcomed 36 practitioners from 16 countries to Harvard Kennedy School for the on-campus portion of our Implementing Public Policy (IPP) Executive Education program. This program ran from May to September 2025, with the on-campus phase being a week-long intensive, interactive, and immersive experience. During the week, participants engaged with faculty and peers to explore their own nominated implementation challenges while learning the Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) approach. Classroom sessions included an in-depth focus on teaming strategies, problem construction and deconstruction, identifying entry points for implementation, finding and fitting ideas, designing iterations, building authorization, multiagent leadership, and the role of behavioral science in public policy.

Event: Finding Purpose in Turbulent Times

In this talk hosted at Harvard Kennedy School on October 16th, Shaun Tomson, a former surfing world champion turned purpose coach, shares his journey from business to purpose-driven work following the tragic loss of his 15-year-old son Matthew in 2006. Tomson now speaks globally about purpose, arguing that our words have transformational power which create personal change that ripples out to others and society.

Apply for our Leading Economic Growth Executive Program!

We are offering Leading Economic Growth online again from September 29 – December 5^th 2025. Application deadline is September 8th, 2025.

Stimulating growth is the top economic priority for many countries and localities around the world. Yet many are trapped, lacking the productive capability to solve problems and expand to new industries to drive development. New growth strategies need paths, processes and organizations to address this problem.

Sophisticated Tools. Practical Approaches.

In this ten-week program, you will learn how to develop a set of policies and tools to define your growth problem, detect constraints to growth, and design solutions to unlock growth. Through peer learning groups and live class sessions, you will apply the frameworks and tools to your own economic growth challenge.

The 4P Framework for Strategic Leadership

A Four-Part Podcast Series with Rob Wilkinson

Effective leadership requires more than making decisions and giving orders. A good leader needs to understand perspectives, manage group dynamics, connect with people on an emotional level, and craft compelling visions for the future. In this four-part podcast series, Harvard Kennedy School’s Robert Wilkinson talks us through his innovative 4P Framework for Strategic Leadership, providing useful insights for leaders at every level.

Each “P” has internal and external dimensions, acknowledging that effective leadership requires self-awareness and adept engagement with others. Whether you lead a small team or a large organization, this series provides valuable insights and methods for becoming a more effective leader.