Crowdsourcing: Fix my road

Written by on July 18, 2011
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Imperfect information on the delivery of basic services make its difficult for policy-makers to manage principal-agent problems in the delivery chain and for recipients to hold their governments accountable. Crowdsourced information can help to fix feedback loops and new technologies and apps are making this feasible. I wanted to test out one of the most talked about platforms–Ushahidi. So before a recent trip to PNG I set up the FixMyRoad website using Crowdmap–a web-based version [...] Read more »

Tim Harford: Trial, error and the God complex

Written by on July 18, 2011
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Tim Harford’s new book Adapt is essential reading for anyone interested in how to improve development aid. In this TEDTalk, Tim worries about the prevalence of the ‘God complex’ among politicians, doctors and economists in a world where problems and their solutions are multifaceted and complex. Tim is a big fan of adaptation through variation and selection, trial and error, to find solutions to complex problems. His thesis is that in order to get closer [...] Read more »

Now the good news: TEDGlobal 2010

Written by on July 12, 2010
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TEDGlobal 2010 takes place in the UK this week and ‘will explore the undercurrent of good news just below the surface of today’s troubling headlines — new ideas, new science, new technology, new social and political thinking, new art and a new understanding of who we are.’ All of the speakers will be excellent and here are three to look out for: Tim Jackson, an economist, studies the links between lifestyle, societal values and the environment [...] Read more »

Cash on Delivery: a new approach to aid

Written by on June 10, 2010

Donors have been known waste money on classrooms with no teachers, so why not pay for progress on number of children completing primary school? That’s the idea behind Cash On Delivery: a new approach to aid, a new book by Nancy Birdsall and William D. Savedoff. And it’s an idea whose time has come. The book is well worth a read. Here’s a quick summary COD aid taken from the book to whet your appetite. Key features [...] Read more »

The next age of government

Written by on March 11, 2010

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Ideas worth sharing on poverty reduction

Written by on February 13, 2010

TED2010 at Long Beach – innovative ideas from the World’s best minds. A highlight of Day One was Esther Duflo bringing the lessons from Poverty Action Lab and its rigorous impact evaluations to a larger audience – great stuff! The message is powerful. With technology we spend so much time in experimenting to find the best solution, but we don’t do the same in social policy. Why not? Read more »

Vote report India

Written by on February 13, 2010

Imagine being able to gather data on service delivery, direct from the client. eMoksha’s ‘crowdsourcing’ tool is an exciting way to do just that, as shown in their election monitoring work in India. Read more »

Not just an eyesite miracle

Written by on February 5, 2010

Aravind eye hospital is one of many innovative ideas from India. Their work is truly inspiring. Read more »

The future beckons at TEDIndia

Written by on November 26, 2009
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The talks and the innovation lounge at TEDIndia were excellent. Here are some ideas from TEDIndia worth sharing on service delivery. A big theme of the conference was on ‘more for less for more’ and social entrepreneurship. Aravind eye hospital has driven down the cost of eye surgeries by stripping back the process to the core essentials and making more efficient use of doctors – not only are their costs a faction of the NHS, they have fewer [...] Read more »