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Programs

From expanding voting access to developing new strategies for antiracist change, we tackle the most pressing issues facing democracy.

Flagship Programs

Caution Tape at the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.
Photo of desert with three big structures in the background
A row of voting booths are set up atop a folding table
Project on Indigenous Governance and Development

Project on Indigenous Governance and Development

Working to understand and foster the conditions for sustained, self-determined social and economic development among American Indian nations.

Nonviolent Action Lab

Nonviolent Action Lab

Understanding how nonviolent action can achieve democratic aims.

All Programs, Projects, and Initiatives

Past Programs

Innovations in Government Program

The Innovations in Government Program was one of the world’s premier academic entities for recognizing and promoting excellence in the public sector and fostering innovative policy solutions to the 21st-century challenges of governing. The Innovations in American Government Awards, which recognized hundreds of public-sector programs for excellence and creativity, was a principal initiative of the Program. An archive of all previous award winners remains available. Work advancing public-sector innovation continues throughout the Ash Center’s other programs and within Harvard Kennedy School. Examples of research and teaching around government innovation can be found in the Kennedy School’s programs, projects, and initiatives on cities and communities; science, technology and data; social innovation and philanthropy; public leadership and management; and much more.

Legislative Negotiation

In this era of increasing polarization, even enemies can negotiate. Indeed for the health of the country political adversaries must learn to negotiate well. Learning the fundamentals of successful negotiation does not have to be limited to the business sector or labor unions, but can also be of tremendous benefit to members of Congress and state legislators across the country. Yet remarkably, current courses and training in negotiation do not include legislative negotiation. Current courses and training on Congress and the state legislatures do not include negotiation.

The Legislative Negotiation Project at Harvard Kennedy School was created to develop a range of cases and simulations for teaching legislative negotiation tactics at the state and congressional level. Learn more about the program here.

Transparency for Development (T4D)

The Transparency for Development Project was a novel, decade-long research initiative, housed at the Ash Center and executed in partnership with Results for Development. The Project investigated whether, why, and in what contexts local transparency and accountability interventions improve development outcomes, such as those around health and citizen participation. Specifically, T4D worked with local civil society partners in Tanzania, Indonesia, Ghana, Malawi, and Sierra Leone to implement transparency and accountability interventions along with mixed-methods evaluation, leveraging quantitative (randomized controlled trial) and qualitative (including ethnography, observations, and key informant interviews) data collection.

The project team, led by Principal Investigators Archon Fung, Jean Arkedis, Jessica Creighton, Steve Kosack, Dan Levy, and Courtney Tolmie, authored several papers, all of which are accessible as Ash Center publications as well as through Harvard’s Digital Access to Scholarship Archive. The final project results and implications are published and available here. Sierra Leone to implement transparency and accountability interventions along with mixed-methods evaluation, leveraging quantitative (randomized controlled trial) and qualitative (including ethnography, observations, and key informant interviews) data collection.

Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project

If you don’t have multiracial democracy, you don’t have democracy. How can we truly achieve antiracist change?

IARA also housed the “Untying Knots” podcast, co-hosted by Nikhil Raghuveera and Erica Licht, exploring how people and organizations are untying knots of systemic oppression and working towards a more equitable future.