Liaison Group Convenes Workshop in Peru By Christina Marchand
In December 2010, the Ash Center participated in the Indigenous Governance, Equity, and Rights in Pluralistic Settings Workshop. This workshop, convened by the Liaison Group for Innovations in Governance and Public Action, brought together a group of international innovations awards programs with indigenous innovators from across the world to discuss significant issues facing native peoples. Tribal representatives from Brazil, Chile, Peru, South Africa, and the United States discussed their experiences... Read more about Ash Center: Indigenous Governance, Equity, and Rights in Pluralistic Settings
In February of 2011, the Ash Center’s Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia welcomed two New World Fellows. Mr. PAN Gongsheng and Ms. XIE Ru are serving as senior New World research fellows through the end of the academic year. Both will conduct research projects on key areas of interest within their respective government positions. While at the Ash Center, Pan is researching areas for strategic reform within China’s banking industry.... Read more about Ash Center: Ash Center Welcomes New World Fellows for Spring Semester
Fifty years after President John F. Kennedy's inauguration, his legacy lives on. Many of the below Innovations in American Government Award winners and finalists focused on arts, civil rights, mental health, physical fitness, and sciences have been inspired by his presidency.
Arts
Arts Incubator (1996 Winner) By using non-cash resources to entice nearby arts organizations to set up shop, Arlington, Virginia, has found a way to reinvigorate its arts scene without emptying its coffers. Through the Arts Incubator program, the county provides free or low-...
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University has issued a report, “From Reformasi to Institutional Transformation: A Strategic Assessment of Indonesia’s Prospects for Growth, Equity, and Democratic Governance.” One of the first overall analyses of Indonesia’s governance and socioeconomic climate, the report reflects upon the country’s successes as a new, 10-year-old democracy and argues that the country must go through a dramatic institutional transformation to compete in the global economy going forward.... Read more about Ash Center: Prospects for Electoral Reform in Indonesia
Mason Fellow Paul Kwengwere Studies Solutions for Economic Growth at HKS
By Kate Hoagland
It is a typical morning in rural Malawi. Women wearing colorful red, yellow, and blue patterned dresses carry large metal buckets, many balancing them on their heads, and often with young infants strapped to their backs. To get fresh water for their families, most travel an average of two miles on unpaved, meandering roads. At present, 30 percent of rural Malawians do not have access to safe drinking water.... Read more about Ash Center: Bridging the Gap Between Activism and Policymaking in Malawi
Roy & Lila Ash Fellow Kanoko Kamata Studies Public Deliberation at HKS
By Kate Hoagland
From fertilizer plants in Turkmenistan to nickel smelting in the Philippines, Kanoko Kamata’s consulting work for Environmental Resources Management (ERM) has taken her across the globe to provide a full spectrum of environmental and social assessments for Japanese and multi-national automotive, chemical, and electronic companies.... Read more about Ash Center: Making the World a Better Place by Giving the Japanese a Voice
Mark Moore Researches Practices for Improving Social Entrepreneurship By Jessica Engelman
What is social innovation? Social entrepreneurship? Social change? They might be buzz words, but at Harvard University and beyond, scholars and researchers are increasingly taking these questions quite seriously.
To the Ash Center’s Professor Mark Moore, in a world of social ills and inequalities, the potential value of social entrepreneurship is too great to leave on the table.... Read more about Ash Center: Sparking Social Change
By Jessica Engelman – Communiqué: Fall 2011, Volume 9
A new, award-winning student paper, “Including the Poor: Assessing the Effective use of PMT and Community Methods in Targeting of Social Programs,” examines methods to improve the efficacy of Indonesia’s social safety net programs. This Second Year Policy Analysis, authored by HKS students Maria Cardenas Mendoza and Espen Beer Prydz, was written in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Public Administration in International Development at Harvard Kennedy School.... Read more about Communiqué: Helping the Programs that Help Indonesia’s Poor
By Jessica Engelman – Communiqué: Fall 2011, Volume 9
Are you satisfied with how your democracy is working? Regardless of your answer, Quinton Mayne wants to know why. Mayne, the Ash Center’s inaugural Democracy Fellow, has won two awards from the American Political Science Association (APSA) for his dissertation, entitled The Satisfied Citizen: Participation, Influence, and Public Perceptions of Democratic Performance. APSA has recognized Mayne’s research with both the 2011 Ernst B. Haas Best Dissertation Award in European Politics and the 2011 Best Dissertation Award in Urban Politics.... Read more about Communiqué: Quinton Mayne Wins Twin APSA Awards for Dissertation
New Report by Ash Center Team Assesses the Country’s Growth
By Jessica Engelman and Kate Hoagland – Communiqué: Fall 2011, Volume 9
Recent news indicates that Myanmar might be making steps to end its diplomatic isolation and reintegrate into the global economy. In March of this year, the country held its first elections in 20 years. While most argue that these elections were not fair or democratic, newly elected President U Thein Sein has introduced a series of reforms and policy changes that critics view with cautious optimism. Sein’s administration has suspended construction on a controversial $3.6 billion dam project to have been built with China’s support... Read more about Communiqué: Myanmar’s Old Problems and New Challenges
A forthcoming article in an international peer-reviewed journal from Jay Rosengard and A. Prasetyantoko marks a new era of collaboration between the Center’s faculty and their counterparts in Indonesia. Rosengard is a lecturer in public policy and director of the Financial Sector Program at HKS. Prasetyantoko is head of the Institute for Research and Social Service at Atma Jaya Catholic University in Jakarta.... Read more about Communiqué: The Center’s New Collaborative Research with Indonesia
Center Launches Inaugural Executive Education Course for Indonesian Officials
By Kate Hoagland – Communiqué: Fall 2011, Volume 9
“The success of Leadership Transformation in Indonesia lies not with what we have done in the classroom, but rather will be seen over time once you return to your government positions in Indonesia,” said Anthony Saich, Ash Center director, addressing an audience of newly elected Indonesian public servants along with members of the Indonesian embassy, Harvard faculty, researchers, and staff, many in traditional, colorful batik attire. Saich’s remarks were part of the closing dinner commemorating the Center’s inaugural executive education course for Indonesian officials held September 12 through October 7, 2012.... Read more about Communiqué: Center Launches Inaugural Executive Education Course for Indonesian Officials
Students Gain Hands-On & Field Research Experience
The Ash Center’s summer fellowship and research programs are a model in experiential learning, giving students hands-on public sector experience and providing meaningful, real-world work experience in the offices of some of the most creative and effective public officials and policy advisors in the country. Students have the opportunity to translate the cutting-edge trends and ideas learned in the classroom into practice. This summer, the following seven students were selected as Summer Fellows in Innovation... Read more about Communiqué: Experiential Learning At Its Best
Exploring the Formation of Non-Violent Islam on Wheels
By Kate Hoagland – Communiqué: Spring 2011, Volume 8
On a hot, bustling evening in southern Jakarta, several hundred young, working-class Muslims in traditional white, rounded caps and long-sleeved shirts riding motorcycles stopped traffic. Their numbers swelled to over 500 as they traveled through a main thoroughfare in Indonesia’s capital city.
Upon reaching a blocked off street, the riders joined an eagerly awaiting congregation of over 15 thousand young followers for a weekly celebration of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.... Read more about Communiqué: Holy Rollers
By Kate Hoagland – Communiqué: Spring 2011, Volume 8
China’s accelerated economic growth and elevated global profile – as demonstrated by lavish spectacles like the Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai Expo 2010 – support predictions that the country is here to stay as a major world power. In the recently published third edition of Governance and Politics of China, Ash Center Director and Daewoo Professor of International Affairs Anthony Saich offers an assessment of contemporary politics of the People’s Republic of China.... Read more about Communiqué: Governance and Politics of China
