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Research & Resources

Through our books, case studies, journal articles, papers, and surveys, the Ash Center is home to some of the world’s most advanced research and publications on issues related to democratic governance and self-governance.

To explore all research authored by Ash Center faculty, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School website. You can view the Ash Center’s open access policy here.

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Additional Resource

How Americans Navigate Voting Information Ahead of the 2026 Midterm Elections

The Shorenstein Center’s 2026 Voting Information Trends project—developed in collaboration with the National Internet Observatory at Northeastern University, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation’s Program on Democracy and the Informed Public, and The Civic Health and Institutions Project—provides new insights into the voter information landscape in the United States ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Among the resources, an interactive dashboard maps where Americans are finding voting information and learning about key aspects of the voting process—from sourcing polling locations to voter registration. Also included are a series of trends reports gauging perceptions of voting in the lead up to the 2026 midterm elections.

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Can Transparency and Accountability Programs Improve Health? Experimental Evidence from Indonesia and Tanzania
Women holding their babies next to a doctor

Article

Can Transparency and Accountability Programs Improve Health? Experimental Evidence from Indonesia and Tanzania

We assess the impact of a transparency and accountability program designed to improve maternal and newborn health (MNH) outcomes in Indonesia and Tanzania. Co-designed with local partner organizations to be community-led and non-prescriptive, the program sought to encourage community participation to address local barriers in access to high quality care for pregnant women and infants. We evaluate the impact of this program through randomized controlled trials (RCTs), involving 100 treatment and 100 control communities in each country.

Brokering Collaboration: Involving Officials in Community Scorecard Programs
Sierra Leone Community Meeting

Occasional Paper

Brokering Collaboration: Involving Officials in Community Scorecard Programs

A community scorecard program in Indonesia and Tanzania showed no measurable health improvements — but an adapted version in Ghana, Malawi, and Sierra Leone showed promise. The difference? Whether local officials were in the room.

Transparency for Development: Project Results and Implications
Group of kids in Tanzania

Paper

Transparency for Development: Project Results and Implications

In the past three decades, the concept of citizens playing a role in monitoring and holding government officials accountable for poor services has gained prominence as a potential tool to fight mismanagement, poor resource prioritization, and corruption around the world. The idea is extremely appealing – who better than citizens to observe breakdowns in government decisions and actions and to fight for solutions to these breakdowns when they occur?
To test these assumptions, the Transparency for Development team ran a transparency experiment through 200 villages in Indonesia and Tanzania and then a modified version in Ghana, Malawi, and Sierra Leone.