Adaptive Leadership in Development (edX)

This course is part of the Leadership in Global Development MicroMasters Program. We also recommend that you complete the other three courses that make up the Leadership in Global Development MicroMasters program: Leaders in Global Development, The Science and Practice of Sustainable Development and Critical Development Perspectives.

What you'll learn

- To appreciate the fundamental mismatch between policy and practice in development

- To understand the importance of having context, and in finding local solutions to local problems

- Skills in adaptive development practice, in the cycles of experimentation, learning, iteration and adaptation

- To discern strategies to overcome political challenges and broker new collaborations

- To comprehend how to measure progress and manage performance when working adaptively

- To diffuse results from practice, by taking them to scale and influencing policy

Syllabus

Module 1: How Solutions Become Problems

In this module we begin to unpack the complex nature of development problems. We will begin to see why solutions that do not take complexity into account often fail and sometimes cause harm.

Module 2: The Disconnect

Why do development interventions often fail? In Module 2 we will explore the disconnect that often exists between policy and practice, and analyse how common tools, such as logical frameworks, can add to this disconnect.

Module 3: Complexity in Development

In this module we will learn about key complexity concepts and understand how they can be used to better 'see' and account for complex institutional reality.

Module 4: Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation

Module 4 introduces Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA), a framework for tackling complex problems developed by Harvard Kennedy School researchers Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock.

Module 5: More PDIA

PDIA is further expanded on in Module 5.

Module 6: Theory of Change and Development Evaluation

Module 6 examines some practical evaluation frameworks that can be used for monitoring and evaluating development interventions. These frameworks attempt to take complexity and systems thinking into account.

Module 7: Wicked Problems and Institutional Collaboration

In this module we look at how institutional collaboration can be used as a way of tackling wicked problems.

Module 8: Thinking and Working Politically

In Module 8 we will develop an understanding of how politics is fundamental to any societal change process.

Module 9: Leading Adaptively

In this module we will learn about the skills and knowledge you will need to be an adaptive leader and development entrepreneur.

The 'From the Leaders' sections in this course

We have collected some amazing interviews with practitioners worldwide who are leaders in the field of adaptive practice. Some of these are quite long, but we believe that the knowledge imparted by the leaders will be extremely valuable to your learning in this field. You will not be assessed on this content, but we encourage you to watch these and gain some really great insights into adaptive practice in the real world.