Governance_

Research

We’re interested in what motivates governance innovators, how they behave, how innovation ecosystems can spark governance innovation, and cross-disciplinary approaches to governance innovation design. We want to understand how governance innovation works beyond the traditional bureaucratic systems: in slum dwellings, in refugee camps, and other complex settings.

Through our Case Studies, we document and make more accessible the stories of governance innovation in the Global South. We provide insights into the challenges of governance, the different pathways to innovation in the public sector, and the drivers for and barriers to innovation.

Sierra Leone’s Directorate of Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTI): We are researching the role of user-centered design in the digitization of a whole-of-government payment processing system.

Mexico City’s Agency for Digital Government (ADIP): We are researching the transformation of the “Mexico City Master Key,” which unifies the city’s services into one interoperable data key.

Brazil’s La-BORA!Gov: We are researching the Free-LA program, which creates the enabling environment for civil servants to innovate.

Cape Verde’s NOSi: We are researching the challenges and advantages of developing e-governance tools for election transparency in Cape Verde.

Kenya’s Africa Center for Technology Studies: We are researching the ethics surrounding e-governance and the collection and use of citizen data, as related to revenue and citizen registry.

As we experiment with different approaches to governance with our partners we are drafting Learning Cases that build a cumulative body of learnings to iterate on our tools and frameworks. Click here to read our learning cases

Directorate of Science Technology & Innovation: Building the runway for governance innovation to take off in Sierra Leone.

Government of Ekiti State Nigeria: Who has the itch? Sparking governance innovations in the health sector in Nigeria.

Freetown City Council & Enabling Business Environment Secretariat: The tradeoff between sparking and sustaining innovation.

Experimentation

Bootcamps, accelerator, hackathons, designer-researchers

Bootcamps and accelerator programs enable partners to diverge and converge on co-identified challenges while Designer-Researchers have worked with our partners to collectively imagine better governance products, services, and processes through the Lean Governance Innovation Design approach.

Thought Leadership

Power to the Who Podcast

What is the future of governance? How can we collectively imagine better futures where we design with citizens and government, not just for citizens? How can governments redesign how they deliver public services? Interviews with thought leaders in governance, reformers, public service leaders, technologists, designers will shine a light on topics in a fun and insightful environment where guests air their visions, challenges, anecdotal mistakes and eureka moments. Click here to listen

Episode 1 Laughing their way to governance innovation: Mexico’s comedians hit the streets.
Guest: Arturo Hernandez, Founder of SuperCivicos, Mexico

Episode 2 Is this a startup or a government agency? A different approach to public innovation in Chile.
Guest: Roman Yossif, Former Executive Director of the Laboratorio de Gobierno de Chile, Chile

Episode 3 A psychologist walks into a public innovation lab: Creating spaces for civil servants to innovate
Guest: Luana Farias, Executive Director, LA-BORA Gov!, Brazil

Episode 4 Because the Law said so: Innovation through legislation in Nigeria
Guest: Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Special Advisor to the President of Nigeria on Ease of Doing Business, Nigeria

Episode 5 From stopping truck driver riots to making the city a safe space: Can design change a democracy
Guest: Santiago Amador, Executive Director, Bogota Innovation Lab, Colombia

Episode 6 What’s in it for me? The trials and tribulations of designing inside the bureaucracy
Guest Host: Mariama N’Diaye, Morningside Academy of Design Fellow

Guest: Nicolas Rebolledo, Head of Services Future Lab & Kahil Ali, Project Lead, Sierra Leone’s Directorate of Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTI)

Governance Innovators

Our partners are at the heart of governance challenges, pushing for a different way of doing things to improve the relationship between government, citizens and civil society. Read our Q&As with Kahil and Kome.

Kahil Ali

Human Centered Design Consultant at Directorate of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Sierra Leone

Kome Sideo

User Experience Designer at Co-Creation Hub, Rwanda