Your search
Results 107 resources
-
Governments and organizations invest huge sums of money in development interventions to explicitly address poverty and its root causes. However, a high proportion of these do not work. This is because interventions are grounded in flawed assumptions about how change happens -- change is rarely linear, yet development interventions are almost entirely based on linear planning models. Change is also characterized by unintended consequences, which are not predictable by planners and by power...
-
The book describes what it means to say the world is complex and explores what that means for managers, policy makers and individuals. The first part of the book is about the theory and ideas of complexity. This is explained in a way that is thorough but not mathematical. It compares differing approaches, and also provides a historical perspective, showing how such thinking has been around since the beginning of civilisation. It emphasises the difference between a complexity worldview and...
-
The Theory of Change approach demands a radical shift towards more and better learning in development thinking and practice, creating a productive and much-needed space for critical reflection.
-
Yammer Co-founder Adam Pisoni speaks with General Stanley McChrystal about the lessons technology companies might take away from his new book Team of Teams.
-
Rigour can be reductionist or inclusive. To learn about and understand conditions of complexity, emergence, nonlinearity and unpredictability, the inclusive rigour of mixed methods has been a step in the right direction. From analysis of mixed methods and participatory approaches and methods, this article postulates canons for inclusive rigour for research and evaluation for complexity: eclectic methodological pluralism; improvisation and innovation; adaptive iteration; triangulation; plural...
-
Systems change has been attracting the attention of those in the social sector who want to deal with the root causes of problems, but, despite the buzz, much of what is written is abstract in tone. With the support of LankellyChase Foundation we have produced this guide to plug a gap in the systems change literature—providing accessible material and recommendations for action. Systems change has been attracting the attention of a range of progressive charities, funders and practitioners who...
-
Why does modern life revolve around objectives? From how science is funded, to improving how children are educated -- and nearly everything in-between -- our society has become obsessed with a seductive illusion: that greatness results from doggedly measuring improvement in the relentless pursuit of an ambitious goal. In Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned, Stanley and Lehman begin with a surprising scientific discovery in artificial intelligence that leads ultimately to the conclusion that the...
-
ABSTRACT. We elaborate the necessary conceptual and strategic elements for developing an effective adaptive monitoring network to support Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) in a multiuser nature reserve in the Dutch Wadden Sea Region. We discuss quality criteria and enabling actions essential to accomplish and sustain monitoring excellence to support ICM. The Wadden Sea Long-Term Ecosystem Research project (WaLTER) was initiated to develop an adaptive monitoring network and online data...
-
9 propositions can help evaluators measure progress on complex social problems.
-
Two great trends are evident in the evolution of life on Earth: towards increasing diversification and towards increasing integration. Diversification has spread living processes across the planet, progressively increasing the range of environments and free energy sources exploited by life. Integration has proceeded through a stepwise process in which living entities at one level are integrated into cooperative groups that become larger-scale entities at the next level, and so on, producing...
-
Complexity science--made possible by modern analytical and computational advances--is changing the way we think about social systems and social theory. Unfortunately, economists' policy models have not kept up and are stuck in either a market fundamentalist or government control narrative. While these standard narratives are useful in some cases, they are damaging in others, directing thinking away from creative, innovative policy solutions. Complexity and the Art of Public Policy outlines a...
-
New tools for managing complexityDoes your organization manage complexity by making things more complicated? If so, you are not alone.According to The Boston Consulting Group’s fascinating Complexity Index, business complexity has increased sixfold during the past sixty years. And, all the while, organizational complicatedness—that is, the number of structures, processes, committees, decision-making forums, and systems—has increased by a whopping factor of thirty-five. In their attempt to...
-
It is widely recognised that the foreign aid system - of which every country in the world is a part - is in need of drastic overhaul. There are conflicting opinions as to what should be done. Some call for dramatic increases to achieve longstanding promises. Others bang the drum for cutting it altogether, and suggest putting the fate of poor and vulnerable people in the hands of markets or business. A few argue that what is needed is creative, innovative transformation. The arguments in Aid...
-
This CDI Practice Paper is about the uses of Systemic Action Research (SAR) and Participatory Systemic Inquiry (PSI) for impact assessment (Burns 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013; Wadsworth 2001, 2010).
-
The challenges currently facing resource managers are large-scale and complex, and demand new approaches to balance development and conservation goals. One approach that shows considerable promise for addressing these challenges is adaptive management, which by now is broadly seen as a natural, intuitive, and potentially effective way to address decision-making in the face of uncertainties. Yet the concept of adaptive management continues to evolve, and its record of success remains limited....
Explore
Theme
-
Adaptive Approaches [+]
- Systems Thinking / Complexity
- Adaptive Learning (5)
- Adaptive Management (13)
- Adaptive Rigour (1)
- Agile & Lean approaches (1)
- CLA (Collaborating Learning Adapting) (1)
- Design Thinking / HCD (3)
-
Other sectors
(15)
- Environmental (6)
- Military (6)
- Organizational Management (4)
- Philosophical roots (1)
- Participation (1)
- PEA (Political Economy Analysis) (1)
- Positive Deviance & 2 loops model (1)
- Cases (5)
- Development Actors Perspectives (4)
-
Geography
(9)
-
Africa
(3)
- Central Africa (1)
-
Eastern Africa
(1)
- Uganda (1)
-
Southern Africa
(1)
- South Africa (1)
-
Asia
(5)
-
Eastern Asia
(5)
- China (5)
-
Eastern Asia
(5)
- Oceania (1)
-
Africa
(3)
-
MEL4 Adaptive Management
(21)
- Action Inquiry/Collective Leadership (1)
- Indicator-based approaches (1)
- Innovation System Analysis (1)
- Mapping Visualization Methods (3)
- Most Significant Change (1)
- Narrative Based Approaches (1)
- Network Analysis (1)
- Outcome Harvesting (1)
- Outcome Mapping (1)
- Participatory Action Research (2)
- Political Economy Analysis (1)
- Portfolio Management (1)
- Qualitative Comparative Analysis (1)
- Realist Evaluation (1)
- Scenario Planning (1)
- SenseMaker (1)
- Stakeholder Feedback (1)
- Systemic Change (6)
- Systems Mapping (1)
- Theory-based evaluations (2)
- TOC (Theory of Change) (5)
- Trans-disciplinary Research (1)
- Utilisation focused evaluation (1)
- Practical (5)
- Sectors [+] (11)
Resource type
- Blog Post (10)
- Book (18)
- Book Section (6)
- Conference Paper (1)
- Journal Article (23)
- Magazine Article (9)
- Newspaper Article (1)
- Presentation (2)
- Report (36)
- Software (1)