Ash Center News

Jakarta Globe: My Jakarta: Donny Eryastha, Student at Harvard Kennedy School of Government

Thu, 10 May 2012 20:14:06 GMT

My Jakarta: Donny Eryastha, Student at Harvard Kennedy School of Government

By Zack Petersen - May 05, 2012
Jakarta Globe

With fewer than 20 Indonesians studying at Harvard, Donny Eryastha, a student at the world-renowned university’s Harvard Kennedy School of Government, is representing Indonesia every day. While busy with study, he still keeps up with everything going on back home. Today, Donny talks about promoting Indonesia abroad, Segways and his plans to return after graduation.

Merrill Lynch, Mercy Corps, World Bank … you racked up a pretty impressive resume prior to your time at Harvard. What would be your dream job here in Jakarta?

Something that I just want to do, unrelated to my background and talent, is to become a syndicated comic columnist commenting on the quirks of Jakarta.

You turned from corporate life to the field of development — why is that?

I always wanted to work in the development field or in the public sector. As a young Indonesian, I would like to directly help to solve some of the country’s problems. I started my professional career in the private sector with the plan of switching into the development field in the long run. The switch came earlier. Three years ago, I moved from working for an investment bank to a microfinance foundation. When I decided it was time to go back to school, I was determined to study economic development. That’s how I ended up here. More»

Donny Eryastha is a 2011-2012 HKS Indonesia Program Fellow at the Ash Center.

AOL Government: The Many Dimensions of Innovation in Government

Thu, 10 May 2012 19:54:13 GMT

By Paul R. Lawrence, Marc Andersen & Mark A. Abramson - May 9, 2012
AOL Government

This is the fifth in a series of profiles of innovative leaders in government based on interviews for the book Paths to Making a Difference: Leading in Government by Paul R. Lawrence and Mark A. Abramson. The book highlights the management lessons of 24 political executives during their first two years in the Obama administration. Marc Andersen collaborated with them on this article.

Excerpt:
Innovation from Inside Government
This type of innovation has received the most attention over the years. Since 1985, the John F. Kennedy School of Government's Innovations in American Government program has recognized nearly 500 innovation initiatives in federal, state, and local government. The Innovations awards program was created to foster increased attention in government to finding new ways to deliver services which address the nations' most pressing issues and to reward and recognize those organizations that undertook new initiatives.

The challenge facing government has been in finding ways to institutionalize the quest for innovation. The bureaucracy has historically excelled at developing routines which could be repeated and duplicated. Thus, finding new routines (or new ways of doing business) has not been traditionally encouraged. More»

Ash Center Funds Student Experiential Learning Summer Projects

Wed, 09 May 2012 20:34:29 GMT

Cambridge, Mass., – May 10, 2012 – Today the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University announced it will fund 23 students through experiential learning projects this summer. Students were selected as Summer Fellows in Innovation, HKS Indonesia Student Research Grantees, and Vietnam Program Interns and will collectively receive $106 thousand in support to defray research, travel, living costs.

“The Ash Center is committed to supporting students throughout their time at HKS and best equipping them with the tools to succeed in the world of practice upon graduation,” said Tony Saich, director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. “These summer immersive experiences are an important component of the HKS curriculum, and allow students to actively apply the theory, ideas, and scholarship they have learned in the classroom while gaining real world career experience.”

Summer Fellows in Innovation
Now in its fourth year, the Summer Fellowship in Innovation prepares HKS students for public sector careers by giving them the opportunity to apply classroom lessons to real world policy challenges faced by U.S. public sector agencies. This year, two students will work with a past winner and finalist of the Innovations in American Government Awards, three students will work with federal agencies, and three students will support initiatives in cities represented in the Urban Policy Advisory Group, made up of the chief advisors to mayors of the 35 largest U.S. cities. The following eight students were selected as 2012 Summer Fellows in Innovation:

Victor Cedeño, MPP 2013: Cedeño will research policy and leadership strategies to help spur business ownership and employment among immigrant communities for Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

Will Cook, MPA 2013: Cook will help the Department of Labor expand its Open Government Agenda and assist in the modernization of its customer service operations.

Roniesha Copeland, MBA/MPP 2014: Copeland will develop strategies for advancing educational reform and innovation for Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Nikhil Gahlawat, MPP 2013: Gahlawat will work with New York City’s Center for Economic Opportunity, the 2011 Innovations in American Government Award winner, to develop multimedia platforms to effectively communicate the program’s policy goals and models and enhance stakeholders’ understanding.

Tyler Jaeckel, MPP/JD 2013: Jaeckel will cultivate high-impact ideas that simplify federal processes to benefit state and local governments for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

Kristina Redgrave, MPP 2013: Redgrave will write technology policy legislation around open data and collaborative consumption and will construct new initiatives that integrate technology into governance for San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee.

Iain Watt, MPP 2013: Watt will analyze the local commercial waste regulatory environment and explore possible internal operational improvements for the New York City Business Integrity Commission.

Benjamin Weinryb Grohsgal, MUP/MMP 2014: Weinryb Grohsgal will identify and evaluate the best information technologies and other tools available for listening to customer chatter, competitor intelligence, and industry trends for Littleton, Colorado. This city’s Economic Gardening program was an Innovations in American Government Award finalist.

HKS Indonesia Student Research Grantees
The Ash Center’s HKS Indonesia Program encourages students with an interest in Indonesia from HKS and across Harvard University by supporting their research internships, independent research, and other forms of study conducted in Indonesia. Past grant recipients have explored a range of issues of importance in Indonesia, including social programs, religious movements, microfinance, and urban planning. The following 10 students were selected as HKS Indonesia Student Research Grantees this summer:

Paula Escobar, HKS MPA/ID 2013 - Escobar will intern at Indonesia’s Vice Presidential Office on the National Team for Accelerating Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Philips Loh, HSPH MS 2013 – With the local Indonesian Ministry of Health and Summit Institute of Development (SID) in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, Loh will work on his independent research project titled “Governance Structures and Policies and the Implementation, Management, and Quality of Tuberculosis Services in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province, Indonesia.”

Odette Maciel, HKS MPA/ID 2013 – Maciel will intern at Indonesia’s Vice Presidential Office on the National Team for Accelerating Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Izhari Mawardi, HKS MPP 2013 – Mawardi will spend his summer performing independent research titled “The Separation of Power and Political Strategy for the BPK-RI Post Constitutional Amendment.”

Paloma Merodio, HKS MPA/ID 2013 – Merodio will work as an intern at the Water and Sanitation Program of the World Bank Office in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Alykhan Mohamed, GSD MUP 2013 – With Solo Kota Kita, Mohamed will perform independent research titled, “Identity vs. Development: Case Studies of Waterfront Communities in Banjarmasin and Solo, Indonesia” in Solo and Banjarmasin, Indonesia.

Fuadi Pitsuwan, HKS MPP 2013 – While in Jakarta, Indonesia, Pitsuwan will perform the independent research project titled, “Why Indonesia is Punching Below its Weight in the International Politics of the Islamic World.”

Imran Sarwar, HKS MPP 2013 – With the International Labour Organization Office in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sarwar will work on his independent research project titled, “Better Work Indonesia: Private Sector Compliance with Mandatory Health Care in Indonesia: A Case-Study of the Apparel Industry.”

Diego Solares, HKS MPP 2013 – Solares will intern for the Southeast Asian Minister of Education Organization Regional Center for Food and Nutrition (SEAMEO RECFON) office in Jakarta, Indonesia over the summer. He will perform independent research titled, “Determining Health Outcomes in Indonesia Using Indicators of Local Governance.”

Paola Vargas, HKS MPA/ID 2013 – Vargas will intern at Indonesia’s Vice Presidential Office on the National Team for Accelerating Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Vietnam Program Internships
Through its summer internship program, the Ash Center’s Vietnam Program supports students both at Harvard and throughout the country to participate in intensive faculty-directed research at the Fulbright School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. These eight-week internships allow students to explore a wide range of pertinent policy issues affecting Vietnam including land policy, rural poverty, environmental issues, industrial policy, infrastructure, urbanization, and macroeconomics/trade issues. Five students were selected as 2012 Vietnam Program Interns this summer:

Gavin Feng, HKS MPA 2013: Feng will research the macroeconomic challenges confronting Vietnam, with a particular focus on monetary and fiscal policies.

Dominik Peschel, HKS MPA 2013: Peschel will research banking sector reform and monetary policy for a broader study on the macroeconomic challenges confronting Vietnam.

Rafael Puyana, HKS MPAID 2013: Puyana has been selected to participate in team research on the macroeconomic challenges confronting Vietnam, with a particular focus on Vietnam’s evolving growth strategy.

Nga Than, Agnes Scott College 2013: Than will participate in team research on the policy challenges associated with Vietnam’s development.

Minh H. Vo, Swarthmore College 2014: Vo will explore policy challenges associated with Vietnam’s development as part of a team of researchers.

For more information, contact:
Kate Hoagland
Ash Center
617-495-4347
kate_hoagland@harvard.edu

About the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
The Roy and Lila Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation advances excellence and innovation in governance and public policy through research, education, and public discussion. Three major programs support our mission: the Program on Democratic Governance; the Innovations in Government Program; and the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia. For more information, visit www.ash.harvard.edu.

Ash Center Announces 2012 Challenges to Democracy Grantees

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:56:51 GMT

Ash Center Announces 2012 Challenges to Democracy Grantees

Faculty and Students Awarded $350,000 in Research Support

Cambridge, Mass., – May 9, 2012 – Today the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University announced the recipients of its annual “Challenges to Democracy Grant” program. In its inaugural year, this grant program devotes $350,000 in support of HKS faculty as well as doctoral and post-doctoral student research that explores both the ideals of democracy and its often imperfect practice in the real world. This year, the Ash Center will fund five HKS faculty research projects; four HKS faculty-led seminars; two doctoral fellowships for HKS and other Harvard graduate students; and one post-doctoral fellowship.

“We are pleased to offer such a substantial amount of funding to support research on strengthening democratic practices and the institutional innovation that is necessary to maintain and expand democratic participation and engagement around the world” said Tony Saich, director of the Ash Center. “We hope that this support will engage Harvard’s intellectual community in the exploration of key challenges in these areas and that it will also push ahead not just our thinking, but also our curriculum design.”

The 2012 grant recipients demonstrate a range of diverse interests and topics falling under three broad themes related to the study of democracy: Democracy in Hard Places; Innovations in Democracy; and Public Sector Innovation. From exploring the most creative local and regional innovations that solve urgent social problems to examining the causes and historical challenges that have prevented democracy from taking root in certain world regions, such research promises to further enrich the School’s scholarship around the study of democracy and serve as the basis for many forthcoming Ash Center seminars, research groups, and workshops.

Faculty Research Grantees:

Asim Khwaja, Professor of Public Policy, HKS - Trust in State Authority and Non-State Actors

Stephen Kosack, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, HKS - Mass Movements and Responsive Governance

Tarek Masoud, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, HKS - Political Attitudes and Behavior after the Arab Spring: Beyond Survey Research

Ryan Sheely, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, HKS - Participant-Driven Evaluation and Community Empowerment in Rural Kenya

Kenneth Winston, Lecturer in Ethics; Faculty Chair, Singapore Program, HKS - Practical Ethics: Case Studies on Moral Competence in Public Life

Faculty Workshop Grantees:

Candelaria Garay, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, HKS - Social Mobilization, Electoral Competition, and Social Policy Expansion in Latin America

Jane Mansbridge, Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, HKS - Getting to Yes in Politics

Pippa Norris, Paul. F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics, HKS - Innovations Strengthening Electoral Integrity in Campaign Finance and Electoral Malpractice in Hard Places. More»

Muriel Rouyer, Visiting Professor of Public Policy, HKS - How Can Europe Help the U.S. Understand Transnational Democracy? Case Study: Nantes, European Green Capital, 2013

Doctoral Fellowship Recipients:
At press time, only one doctoral fellowship has been finalized. The second fellowship recipient will be announced shortly.

Shauna Shames, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Government, Harvard University - The Roots of Political Ambition: Gender, Race, Class, and the Decision to Run for Office

Post-Doctoral Democracy Fellowship Recipient:

Lindsay Mayka, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, University of California, Berkeley - Bringing the Public Into Policymaking: National Participatory Institutions in Latin America

For more information, contact:
Kate Hoagland
Ash Center
617-495-4347
kate_hoagland@harvard.edu

New York Times: Armed With Data, Fighting More Than Crime

Mon, 07 May 2012 13:14:59 GMT

By Tina Rosenberg – May 2, 2012
New York Times

Government accountability systems don’t usually become global superstars, but CompStat did. The ideas in CompStat were first developed by Jack Maple, when he was a lieutenant in the New York City Transit Police, as a way to track subway crime and more intelligently deploy transit cops. In 1994, when William Bratton, the chief of the transit police, became chief of the New York City Police Department, he brought Maple with him as a deputy. They then applied CompStat principles throughout the city’s entire crime fighting operation.

The CompStat era coincided with a staggering decline in crime. Between 1990 and 2011, homicide in New York City declined by 80 percent, robbery by 83 percent, burglary by 86 percent and car theft by 94 percent. During that period crime fell everywhere in the United States, but it fell twice as much and for twice as long in New York City.

How much of this was due to CompStat is still hotly debated. One of the most careful criminologists, Franklin Zimring, gives New York City’s changes in policing (which are not limited to CompStat) credit for a significant share of the crime drop.

CompStat and CitiStat are past Innovations in American Government Award winners.

Jakarta Post: Conservatism and the Policy of Building Religious Harmony

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:43:02 GMT

Conservatism and the Policy of Building Religious Harmony

By M. Syafi’i Anwar – May 4, 2012
Jakarta Post

Having observed the current developments in Indonesia, it seems that the state and religious freedom are now at a crossroads. Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali’s recent statement on the attack on an Ahmadiyah mosque in Tasikmalaya reinforces this suspicion.

This is not the first time he has played down suggestions to protect religious minorities’ rights. His previous remarks on sharia-based bylaws and the attack on Shiite groups in Sampang, Madura, demonstrate his mindset in understanding religious harmony. Fortunately, his deputy, Nasaruddin Umar, holds a dissenting position on Ahmadiyah and has underlined the need to protect the rights of minorities.

Still, several governors, mayors and regents have issued or proposed public policies that ignore religious-minority rights. Apart from the Ahmadiyah, policies on restrictions on building houses of worship, prohibiting religious defamation and controlling religious splinter groups have prevailed in the last few years. More»

The writer is a senior research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. In 2007, he was selected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as one of five independent experts representing group of Asian states.

HKS: HKS Executive Institute Aims to Strengthen Homeland Security

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:30:45 GMT

Harvard Kennedy School Executive Institute Aims to Strengthen Homeland Security

By Army Lt. Col. James Sahady, Massachusetts National Guard Public Affairs - May 3, 2012

The National Guard Bureau Homeland Security Institute, in cooperation with Harvard Kennedy School, hosted the second annual General and Flag Officer Homeland Security Executive Seminar on the Kennedy School campus.

Fifty professionals from the rank of colonel to major general along with Department of Department civilians attended the course designed to provide a broad understanding of federal and state emergencies, crisis decision making and multi-agency collaboration. It also emphasized the critical role of the National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard as the backbone of the nation’s leadership team providing the essential intermediate response to large, complex and multi-jurisdiction events.

“This seminar comes at a pivotal time for all of us. Secretary Panetta calls this a strategic turning point and Arnold Punaro calls it an inflection point. The president’s new strategic guidance informed us that the military is part of the defense of the homeland," said Gen. Craig McKinley, chief, National Guard Bureau and one of the event’s keynote speakers. More»

This executive seminar is one of several programs in the portfolio of the Program on Crisis Leadership at the Kennedy School’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

Xinhua News: Inclusion of Migrant Workers Biggest Challenge for Chinas Urbanization

Thu, 03 May 2012 18:16:33 GMT

Inclusion of Migrant Workers Biggest Challenge for China's Urbanization

By Sun Hao – May 2, 2012
Xinhua News

China will have to face a host of problems in its drive to realize "effective urbanization" in the next decade, with the most prominent challenge lying in accommodating the large number of migrant workers, said a U.S. expert.

Anthony Saich remembered visiting China for the first time in 1976 when he was a student in London. "I hardly anticipated the process of urbanization that China would go through" in the next 30 years and beyond, he told Xinhua.

As a well-known U.S. expert on China, Saich recently launched a project of Chinese public policy case studies at Harvard University's Kennedy School. He is also working on a new book with a Chinese economist on Chinese villages' new collective ownership amid globalization. More»

Anthony Saich is the director of the Ash Center

Communiqué: HKS Students Gain Insider Perspective of Chile's Disaster Recovery Efforts

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:58:10 GMT

HKS Students Gain Insider Perspective of Chile’s Disaster Recovery Efforts

By Kate Hoagland - Communiqué: Spring 2012, Volume 10
Ash Center

At 3:34 a.m. on February 27, 2010, Chile was hit with an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, the world’s sixth largest earthquake in recorded history. From its epicenter off the Pelluhue commune coast, the quake and subsequent tsunami damage spanned 600 kilometers from coastal to mountainous regions home to 80 percent of the country’s population. The disaster killed 562 residents and destroyed an estimated 370,000 homes, causing over $30 billion (US dollars) in widespread devastation and economic loss. Certain small villages and towns closest to the quake’s epicenter and along the coast experienced devastating losses: in Cobquecura and Dichato over 90 percent of residents lost their homes.

Two years later, the country is making impressive progress towards recovery. The government removed all disaster debris in a matter of months; by comparison New Orleans took upwards of three years to complete trash removal after Hurricane Katrina. Of the 80,000 temporary housing units known as mediaguas, 75,000 were built on residents’ actual land. Permanent housing for the homeless is well underway. According to the head of reconstruction for the Ministry of Housing, of the 220,000 families requiring government help to rebuild their homes scattered over 23,000 settlements, the government has allocated 220,000 subsidies, started constructing 136,237 permanent homes, and completed building 72,226 homes. The current administration has an ambitious goal of building the remaining permanent homes for all 220,000 families by February 2014.

While building homes and infrastructure requires master planning and cannot be done over night, many residents remain frustrated at the pace of reconstruction. And in smaller, rural villages like Perales destroyed by the tsunami, recovery efforts have been largely overlooked, abandoning residents to rebuild their homes and livelihoods on their own. Such arguably slow recovery efforts led in part to widespread protests that turned violent in July 2011 in the town of Dichato.

Community Recovery Immersion Course
Designed to give students a rare, insider’s view of the complex issues surrounding Chile’s recovery efforts, the “Community Recovery: Rebuilding Disaster Damaged Communities in Chile” course was held January 2nd through 14th at the beginning of this year. Created and taught by Doug Ahlers, adjunct lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and a faculty affiliate of the Ash Center’s Program on Crisis Leadership, the course included a week of field work whereby teams of students lived and worked in Cobquecura, Dichato, and Perales, three quake- and tsunami-affected areas. Because these towns mirror the damage and devastation felt in other regions throughout Chile, Ahlers hopes the economic recovery strategies and plans created by the students can be adapted around the country as models for community-based recovery.

“Experiential learning courses like this one follow a ‘throw you into the deep end of the pool’ philosophy by really immersing our students in the communities they are studying to gain a better understanding of the complexity of the challenges faced,” said Ahlers. “Instead of getting a perfect problem set, they are getting a messy problem set, and from their toolbox of theories and frameworks, they must find ways to apply them in real time under real life pressures.”

Meeting with the families, community groups, foundations, and businesses hard hit by the disaster, students gained an on-the-ground understanding of each community’s day-to-day struggles. During the final week of the course, each team crafted a detailed strategic plan for improving the area’s economic growth in both the short- and long-term using the information they had learned doing field research.

A key component of the Community Recovery course was to help residents of Cobquecura, Dichato, and Perales identify promising public and private grants for individuals along with start-up and existing businesses. As the grant application process can be overwhelming for even the most seasoned professional and many residents were not familiar with the resources available to them, students offered one-on-one assistance with navigating the grant application process and facilitated with application writing so residents could best take advantage of available financial support.

Bringing Back Life to Once Popular Beach Town
Much of Dichato’s once vibrant coastline was destroyed by the tsunami, and the majority of this regional tourist hot spot’s population now lives in temporary housing camps. When residents lost their homes, they also lost an additional source of income, as many rented out their homes during the three-month tourist season.

Ruthzee Louijeune, HLS JD and HKS MPP 2014, and her fellow team members met with many of the town’s residents. She explained “the people of Dichato know best what their needs are—they’ve already identified them. Our primary objective was to listen to their ideas and help them strategically translate their vision to best gain access to resources and funds to start and rebuild their livelihoods.”

In one such interview, Louijeune met with 18 women all originally living in a temporary housing camp who, by hand, had built their own greenhouse of wood and plastic sheeting. Currently selling organic fruits and vegetables, the women hoped to become the town’s only flower vendor and take advantage of the built-in market promised by the nearby cemetery as well as the town’s many holiday festivals. Louijeune and her teammates aided them with crafting a business plan and applying for a start-up grant.

Building Out of Rubble
Also a tourist destination, Cobquecura attracts surfers from around the world to enjoy the town’s waves, miles of black sand coast line, and historic district. The quake transformed much of the classic adobe shops and homes of the downtown heritage area into piles of rubble. Other buildings are now uninhabitable with fallen-in roofs and toppled walls.

Because this town of 5,500 residents is relatively isolated—the nearest city is over an hour away—it has not been able to attract construction companies skilled in the adobe trade to aid in rebuilding efforts. José Ríos, MPA 2012, and his fellow HKS teammates proposed alternate building models including starting a local construction company trained in making seismic code-adobe and led by experts at the University of Peru and Harvard Graduate School of Design Lecturer Miho Mazereeuw, an expert in earthquake and tsunami-building techniques.

"This experience was very meaningful to all of us,” said Ríos, “but for me as a native Chilean, the class was very personal. It was an amazing opportunity to return to my country and try to help.”

Empowerment Through Sewing
Unlike Dichato and Cobquecura, the 500 residents of the small village of Perales live more modestly off subsistence farming, fishing, algae gathering, and tourism. In the peak season, the village had welcomed upwards of 400 visitors via its mountainous 25 kilometer coastal road—all but impossible now as the road was washed out by the tsunami. Instead, visitors can reach Perales by way of a new dirt road only paved at the steepest parts of its path. “The current road is very much like Highway One in California,” said Gina Di Domenico, HKS MPA 2013. “And while they’ve done preliminary work on it, our team recommended first and foremost that the road be rebuilt if Perales is to really grow in the future.”

While in Perales, Di Domenico and her fellow HKS teammates organized a workshop day for residents to share their ideas for reviving and improving their livelihoods. For Di Domenico, her most rewarding work was with a group of women seeking new ways to supplement their family income through hand-sewn clothes and handicrafts. As many residents suffered from post-traumatic depression after the disaster, the village’s local clinician started sewing classes as a creative coping mechanism. Taught in the clinic, 20 women learned the basics of sewing and could practice their skills one hour five times a month, sharing time on a single sewing machine. Di Domenico and her team aided the women in applying for a grant to secure 29 additional sewing machines to enhance their skills.

“Many of these women had an isolated existence as tourism has all but dried up in Perales,” said Di Domenico. “They were excited about the prospect of being able to supplement their family’s income and develop the skills to clothe their children better.”

This course is part of a larger effort of the Kennedy School to provide students immersive experiences to translate the skills they have learned in the classroom into practice. The Ash Center offers a host of travel and research grant opportunities through the Policy Analysis Exercise and summer internships. The Center’s Summer Fellowship in Innovation places students in the offices of some of the country’s most innovative municipalities to take part in key public policy initiatives and projects. Throughout the year, the Center also offers grants for students to research in the field. From exploring teacher retention in Pittsburgh to citizen receptiveness to new Dengue virus medicine in rural Indonesia, such research projects demonstrate a wide range of creative scholarship from across the globe.

Communiqué: Taking The Road Not Taken

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:05:06 GMT

Taking the Road Not Taken

Vietnamese Delegation Explores Alternative Paths for Future Growth in Vietnam

By Kate Hoagland - Communiqué: Spring 2012, Volume 10

In mid-February, the Ash Center’s Vietnam Program convened a delegation of 20 senior Vietnamese policymakers led by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh for a week of intensive policy discussions and analysis on Vietnam’s economy as part of its third annual Vietnam Executive Leadership Program (VELP). Held at Harvard Kennedy School, world-class experts on both the Vietnamese and the broader global economy led candid discussion and presented original analysis on the short- and long-term challenges facing Vietnam. While the country’s leaders regularly hold similar policy discussions in Hanoi, the VELP program is specifically designed to take leaders out of their day-to-day environments, providing an outside, impartial venue for participants and presenters to share fresh, candid perspectives on the salient issues that can slow Vietnam’s future economic growth. This annual policy dialogue is a result of a collaboration among the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Vietnamese government, and the Ash Center’s Vietnam Program.

This year’s Vietnam Executive Leadership Program comes on the heels of what many experts believe is a period of macroeconomic instability for Vietnam. The country runs the risk of a banking-currency crisis as a result of high price inflation (currently at 17 percent), widespread bank undercapitalization, underperforming loans, and a broader lack of faith in its Dong currency, causing many to convert it to more stable currencies or even physical assets. Experts argue that the country has made many missteps in its selection and implementation of public investments, resulting in widening income inequality and an increased dependence on foreign savings and exchange reserves, and thus creating an unsustainable growth model in the long term. Moreover, the country’s dependence on agriculture, natural resource extraction, and low value-added manufacturing industries offer little promise for sustaining the high rates of growth Vietnam targets in its often-stated goal of building a “prosperous people and a strong nation.”

However, reaching this goal is possible, and VELP experts presented many promising alternative perspectives on reforms that could lead to the productivity growth, international competitiveness, job creation, and higher living standards the country seeks. The week of policy discussions was crafted to respond to policy priorities established by the Vietnamese government in 2011.

VELP’s Curriculum
The week’s discussion centered on the broad goal of improving Vietnam’s economy; each day focused on a different subtheme drawing upon real-world cases of success in Vietnam, as well as the United States, China, and other neighboring Asian countries.

During first day, Nicholas Rosellini, UNDP, Dwight Perkins, Harvard University, and Jonathan Pincus, HKS, along with other policy experts addressed the current state of the global economy touching on the global labor supply shift, the economic prospects for Vietnam’s most important trading partners, and different macroeconomic policy directions Vietnam could pursue.

Expanding upon the macroeconomic discussion of the first day, second day presenters including Fulbright Economics Teaching Program MPP Director Vu Thanh Tu Anh addressed the impact of financial imbalances on achieving growth and stability, covering both the European crisis and home-grown challenges confronting Vietnam’s banking sector. A discussion of the ecosystem of entrepreneurship stimulated an interesting exchange on aspects of Vietnam’s policy environment that could be reformed to better support the country’s growth objectives, while a presentation on the broader Asia-Pacific geopolitical landscape explored the implications of shifts in military and political balance on Vietnam’s economic growth.

Presenters including Harvard Professor Benjamin M. Friedman presented arguments for necessary structural changes to revive the country’s economy on the third day. Discussion included how China successfully transformed its state-owned enterprises into global firms and how fiscal policy and the effective supervision of financial institutions can aid in macroeconomic balance. During the latter portion of the day, participants visited the Boston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank and gained insights into how the Bank regulates financial institutions by emphasizing both full employment and price stability. By comparison, Vietnam’s central bank is more politically directed.

On the fourth day of the session, discussion focused on alternative economic growth models Vietnam could adopt. Presenters including Vu Thanh Tu Anh, director of research at the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, proposed reforming the tripartite relationships among the central government, local municipalities, and state-owned enterprises to take greater account of market forces in selecting, designing, and implementing investment projects.

The final day of the session explored the importance of social policies that address rural development and poverty alleviation. During this session, Ash Center Director Anthony Saich discussed China’s own policies to narrow the income gap between rural and urban areas through infrastructure development and improved access to education and healthcare. Other discussions were led by UNDP’s Dr. Yannick Glemarec and Bakhodir Burkhanov, along with Harvard Professor Ezra Vogel who explored the role political leadership played in the “East Asian economic miracle”—a term popularized by the World Bank to describe the economic successes in the region.

Throughout the week of discussion, presenters emphasized that to truly achieve long-term stability in Vietnam, leaders must not only implement a list of policy reforms and restructuring changes, but also explore a more expansive philosophical shift towards economic and governance practices. “It will mean, first and foremost, imposing discipline on both public and private sector entities through greater transparency and accountability,” stated a policy paper written for VELP. “Vietnam must move towards international standards of economic governance, including a clear separation between regulators and market participants, an unswerving commitment to a judicial system that is independent of politics, and public finance and fiscal policy reforms based on clearly enunciated rules and complete transparency.”

Harvard Kennedy School Executive Program Aims to Better Coordinate National Guard and Coast Guard Crisis Response

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:19:07 GMT

Harvard Kennedy School Executive Program Aims to Better Coordinate National Guard and Coast Guard Crisis Response

Cambridge, Mass., – April 20, 2012 - With thousands of aid workers from various agencies on the ground every day providing critical support to victims of floods, hurricanes, tornados and other disasters, the need for coordinated response has never been greater. With that goal in mind, Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) is hosting a group of 50 high-level National Guard and other senior leaders from various military and homeland security agencies from around the country for an Executive Education program designed to effect more coordinated and effective responses following natural disasters and other domestic emergencies. The General and Flag Officer Homeland Security Executive Seminar will take place in Cambridge on April 24-27.

The seminar is designed to help agencies and organizations work together in a non-hierarchical command structure and develop new methods and protocols for coordinating decision implementation, work flow, and follow through. It is one of several programs in the portfolio of the Program on Crisis Leadership at the Kennedy School’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

Through intensive case study-based discussion of recent events, participants will focus on planning and leadership and develop concepts and frameworks for the design and execution of response in complex, multi-jurisdictional and multi-sectoral environments.

"The United States faces a continuing necessity to be prepared for and capable of responding to a major disaster which can happen anywhere and anytime," said Herman "Dutch" Leonard, George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Management and co-director of the Program on Crisis Leadership. "Much of the thinking about how to organize a response to such an event until now has imagined a highly centralized operation, but in reality the response operation is diffuse and multi-faceted, involving a variety of public, private and non-profit entities. This new reality requires an updated way of thinking, planning, and training."

"We all recognize the critical role of the National Guard and United States Coast Guard as the backbone of the nation’s leadership cadre for providing the response to complex, multi-jurisdiction, multi-level, multi-sectoral events," said Arn Howitt, executive director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and program co-director. "This customized program will help their senior leaders consider the resources and capabilities to produce an effective response."

"This critical seminar will bring together senior leaders from a variety of military and civilian organizations to build partnerships and develop relationships,” said Major General L. Scott Rice, the Adjutant General (Acting), Massachusetts National Guard. “Additionally, this will help prepare our nation to prevent and respond to the next man-made or natural disaster and limit the loss of life and property. Our citizens deserve nothing less.”

The program agenda includes a public event on the evening of April 26 in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. Panelists including General Craig McKinley, Chief, National Guard Bureau; Brigadier General Julie Bentz of the National Security Council; and retired Admiral Mary Landry of the U.S. Coast Guard; will discuss "Disaster Response: The military's role from Japan to the Gulf." The event will begin at 6 p.m. and will be webstreamed live on the Forum website: http://forum.iop.harvard.edu/

Read more about The General and Flag Officer Homeland Security Executive Seminar on the Executive Education program website: http://ksgexecprogram.harvard.edu/Programs/clp/overview.aspx

For more information, please contact
Kate Hoagland
Ash Center
617-495-4347
kate_hoagland@harvard.edu

NPR: Egyptian Elections Complicated By Controversy

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:56:26 GMT

April 23, 2012
Talk of the Nation, NPR

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. In a few weeks, Egyptians vote in a presidential election that many hoped would mark a full transition from military rule. Then the Egyptian Election Commission disqualified 10 candidates, including the two leading Islamists and the former intelligence chief.

Excerpt:

CONAN: Well, we want to hear from callers: What's at stake now in Egypt? Give us a call, 800-989-8255. Email us, talk@npr.org. But let's turn first to Tarek Masoud, assistant professor of public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and he joins us from studios there in Cambridge. Nice to have you with us today.

TAREK MASOUD: Good to be with you.

CONAN: And at this point, given the confusion over the presidential election, is this going to be perceived as a legitimate government if it's elected?

MASOUD: I think so. I mean, I understand the concern. Obviously, somebody like Khairat al-Shater, who is the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, his disqualification might be seen as somehow preventing a very strong person from actually running as somebody who could win a lot of votes, and you could say the same thing about the disqualification of Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's former vice president.

But you've got to remember there are 13 presidential candidates, and the ones who are leftover aren't exactly unknowns, and there doesn't seem to be this huge explosion of popular anger on the streets of Cairo. There were protests, but all political forces seem to be moving forward towards this election. So I think we need to be a little bit careful about reading too much into these disqualifications.

Tarek Masoud is an affiliated faculty member of the Ash Center

Washington Business Journal: Anthony Williams to Head Federal City Council

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:55:16 GMT

Anthony Williams to Head Federal City Council

By Bryant Ruiz Switzky - April 19, 2012
Washington Business Journal

Former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams has been tapped to replace John Hill as CEO of the Federal City Council, the organization announced Thursday.

The news comes after Hill announced in October that he would step down when his contract expires in August. Williams will assume his new position July 1.

"His experience is so expansive," said Federal City Council Chairman Linda Rabbitt, chairman and CEO of Rand Construction, in an interview. "We were looking for someone who had credibility on Capitol Hill, credibility with District officials and credibility with the business community. He had all of those." More»

Anthony Williams is an affiliated faculty member of the Ash Center

Harvard Crimson: 23andMe Founder Discusses Genetics and Health Care

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:28:42 GMT

23andMe Founder Discusses Genetics and Health Care

By Radhika Jain - April 20, 2012
Harvard Crimson

Excerpt:
HKS Professor Archon Fung questioned whether such large amounts of genetic data should be governed by the private sector, adding that genetic information might be used against individuals in unjust ways.

“How much is that data worth?” he asked. “It may be the case that [23andMe] should be paying [customers] for the data.”

Wojcicki admitted that 23andMe intentionally sidestepped the medical profession during its inception because “it’s impossible to work in the system.”

“I don’t necessarily want my physician making all my decisions,” she said. “There should be choice in healthcare.”

Some attendees said the mix of perspectives complicated their own opinions on personal genetic testing.

“There’s this curiosity factor where I want to see what would pop up on the screen—but at the same time, I think I’m just wary really of what the larger implications are,” said Graduate School of Education student Noha Mahdi Hayder.

Wojcicki’s talk was part of the Science and Democracy Lecture Series organized by the HKS Program on Science, Technology and Society. Event moderator and director of the STS program Sheila Jasanoff said she was pleased with the variety of responses presented. More»

Jakarta Globe: In Race to Attract Investment, Indonesia Needs Rule of Law

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:13:43 GMT

By Andrew White - April 20, 2012
Jakarta Globe

Excerpt:
Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center closely examines the rule of law in Indonesia in its report “From Reformasi to Institutional Transformation: A Strategic Assessment of Indonesia’s Prospects for Growth, Equity and Democratic Governance.” The report concludes “that local business interests have routinely used corrupt courts to extract concessions from foreign companies,” and it goes on to state that “the legal system — courts, prosecutors, police, lawyers — must uphold the law and the rights of citizens without bias.”

The current investigation by the Attorney General’s Office into Chevron Pacific Indonesia’s bioremediation project in Sumatra is a case in point. Leaving aside that the allegations appear contradictory (can a project be both fake and too expensive?) and are denied by all parties, there is a larger issue that has gone unnoticed. The investigation is itself an arbitrary action and without precedent. The AGO investigation falls outside the due process contained within the legal framework of production sharing contracts in the oil and gas sector.

The oil and gas sector is the most tightly regulated business sector in Indonesia and with good reason, given that oil and gas revenues provide around 30 percent of the state’s revenue. Under the current agreed PSC legal framework, any dispute over projects and costs is resolved by government auditors and there exists an established arbitration process. If there is a genuine case to answer here, why is the established regulatory and legal framework being bypassed arbitrarily?

Read From Reformasi to Institutional Transformation»

Newsweek: Egypt’s Spymaster Candidate For President, Omar Suleiman

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:16:44 GMT

Egypt’s Spymaster Candidate For President, Omar SuleimanCan Mubarak’s Former Spymaster Win Power?

By Tarek Masoud - April 16, 2012
Newsweek

The 14 months since Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow have not been kind to those who yearn for a free Egypt. A military junta rules, Islamists dominate the Parliament, thousands languish in army jails, the economy careens toward insolvency, no one has been held accountable for the slaughter of more than 800 citizens during the country’s 2011 uprising—and now Omar Suleiman, Mubarak’s spymaster and onetime deputy, is running for president. For many Egyptians, the general’s reappearance is a bitter reminder of the incompleteness of their revolution.

Politicians of all stripes warn that Suleiman’s candidacy is part of a plot to revive the dictatorship. The Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate has promised a new revolution if Suleiman wins on May 23, and the Parliament has passed a law that would bar Suleiman and other Mubarak-era notables from running (although it’s not clear if the junta will approve it or the courts will let it stand).

Tarek Masoud is an affiliated faculty member of the Ash Center.

Vietnam News: Experts Urge Support for Farmers

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:06:10 GMT

By Staff – April 7, 2012
Vietnam News

Experts yesterday called for Viet Nam to clarify policies that support farmers and agriculture enterprises instead of putting too much emphasis on growth targets.

The call came as part of a draft proposal on restructuring the sector to become more sustainable and market-oriented by 2020.

Speaking at the consultation meeting, Minister of Agricultural Development and Rural Planning Cao Duc Phat acknowledged that despite years of rapid growth, the rate of agricultural GDP decreased from 4 percent annually in the period 1995-2000 to 3.83 percent in 2001-05 and 3.3 percent in 2006-10.

"The sector is quite vulnerable to diseases such as bird flu and natural disasters," he said.

In the proposal, the Ministry pointed out that agricultural production has been heavily reliant on crop production, a low investment rate that only amounted to 6.26 per cent GDP in 2010, overexploitation of natural resources that go along with intensive farming and widening use of agro-chemicals, fertilisers, pesticides and growth stimulants. More»

Featuring David Dapice, affiliated faculty member of the Ash Center

The China Perspective: China Prepares to Break Big-Bank Monopoly: Wen

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:45:23 GMT

By Tony Jin – April 5, 2012
The China Perspective

China has to break the monopoly held by giant state-owned banks to help smaller companies secure loans, premier Wen Jiabao argued.

The top five commercial lenders reported a combined ¥681 billion net profit in 2011, representing 65% of the total earnings reaped by all banks last year, figures from their annual reports have shown.

"It is too easy for our big banks to make money," Wen said on Radio China. "The central government has made the decision to break their monopolistic position to make state loans accessible to nascent, promising startups." More»

William Overholt is a senior research fellow at the Ash Center

Reuters: China's Wen Says Bank Monopoly Must Be Broken Up-State Media

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:33:01 GMT

By Staff – April 3, 2012
Reuters

Excerpt:
China's state banks make money "far too easily" and their monopoly on financial services has to be broken if cash-starved private enterprises are to get timely access to capital, state media cited Premier Wen Jiabao as saying on Tuesday.

Wen's comments, carried on China National Radio, come days after Beijing gave the go-ahead for financial reforms in Wenzhou - known as the country's cradle of private enterprise - that will encourage private investment in local banks.

"Frankly, our banks make profits far too easily. Why? Because a small number of major banks occupy a monopoly position, meaning one can only go to them for loans and capital," China National Radio quoted Wen as telling local businesses at a roundtable discussion.

"That's why right now, as we're dealing with the issue of getting private capital into the finance sector, essentially, that means we have to break up their monopoly," the radio news service reported Wen as saying on its website.

"Everything's in the details. But the basic need for drastic financial reforms is clear," said William Overholt, a senior research fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and author of "Asia, America, and the Transformation of Geopolitics."

"This is a time in China's economic history where future growth, and future jobs, depend heavily on small and medium enterprises and the private sector." More»

William Overholt is a senior research fellow at the Ash Center

PBS NewsHour: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Bid: Why the Turnaround?

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:22:37 GMT

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Bid: Why the Turnaround?In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood and other conservative Islamic political parties have advanced candidates for the upcoming presidential election. Margaret Warner and Harvard’s Tarek Masoud explore the implications for the political and social life of post-revolution Egypt.

April 3, 2012
PBS NewsHour

MARGARET WARNER: And for more, I am joined by Tarek Masoud, an assistant professor at Harvard. He goes to Egypt frequently for research.

And, Professor Masoud, welcome back to the program.

How big a moment is this? How big a development is this in this sort of path, Egypt’s path toward a democracy?
TAREK MASOUD, assistant professor of public policy, Harvard University: That’s a great question, Margaret.

I guess it depends on how you look at it. You remember right after Mubarak was overthrown, there was a tremendous fear on the part of liberals and secularists in Egypt and people observing Egypt from the outside, that, once Mubarak left, the void would be filled by Islamists and specifically by the Muslim Brotherhood.

And so initially the Muslim Brotherhood did things to calm those fears. They initially said that they wouldn’t run for every seat in the parliamentary election. In the end, they did. And now, after having promised not to seek the presidency, as you noted in your piece, they have reneged on that promise as well.

And so this creates a great deal of fear on the part of people, liberals and secularists, who thought that the Islamists would seek dominion. So this is potentially very problematic for them. Now, I would say one thing. More»