Interesting reflections - the value of diversity in paths and thinking is hard to overstate, and the examples you point to are good illustrations of how diverse perspectives can lead to breakthroughs in approach. I have some concern about the dichotomy presented between those who know the space and those who know "what works," as this might replace one epistemic fallacy dictated by the power structure of funding (the optimistic pessimism you describe) with another (privileging specific methods of knowing what works). The question of alignment on the right data, and creation of the right data sets to allow robust exploration, seems much more interesting, and better suited to our PEA practice motto of "Be curious, not judgmental." I'll post something longer about that, though!
thank you - and really great points and motto. The motto also (in my mind) works across public policy, including anti corruption. Judgemental rarely delivers.
Interesting reflections - the value of diversity in paths and thinking is hard to overstate, and the examples you point to are good illustrations of how diverse perspectives can lead to breakthroughs in approach. I have some concern about the dichotomy presented between those who know the space and those who know "what works," as this might replace one epistemic fallacy dictated by the power structure of funding (the optimistic pessimism you describe) with another (privileging specific methods of knowing what works). The question of alignment on the right data, and creation of the right data sets to allow robust exploration, seems much more interesting, and better suited to our PEA practice motto of "Be curious, not judgmental." I'll post something longer about that, though!
Meanwhile, more specifically on the political economy materials, you can find the USAID PEA framework (thanks Wayback Machine!) here: https://web.archive.org/web/20190209210138/https://www.usaid.gov/documents/1866/thinking-and-working-politically-through-applied-political-economy-analysis
We're still collecting previous materials and documents, and the Policy Practice is kindly going to host a number of things from our TWP Collection.
thank you - and really great points and motto. The motto also (in my mind) works across public policy, including anti corruption. Judgemental rarely delivers.