What we do.
We believe that the best way to improve the effectiveness of public organisations is to work together with public leaders on specific and pressing problems. We believe the journey to overcome those problems is how public organisations get stronger.
Types of work we do
Where we Work.
10 steps on “the road to better governance”
How we do it.
What a project with us looks like in practice.
STEP 1
We believe that change should come from inside an organisation, and that every organisation has leaders that want to improve how their organisation functions. We call these leaders ‘mission-driven public leaders’ and believe they are the most precious resource a country can have.
STEP 2
Problems help to focus the mind and mobilise the political will to act. We work with public leaders to identify pressing problems and explore possible solutions to collaborate on. This usually results in a concept note or project document.
STEP 3
All projects need resources, but the size and sources of funding will differ. We work with public organisations to identify and attract sources of funding (international donors, crowdsourcing, private donations, foundations etc.).
STEP 4
The project team should consist of staff from the public organisation and staff from The Better Governance Project. We compile our teams based on three characteristics 1) Drive, 2) People-skills, 3) Knowledge. We believe that most projects fail because they select teams based only on knowledge, leading to a lot of reports on how things ought to be but very little change.
STEP 5
The research phase is an intensive phase where the team members are involved in two activities: 1) getting a deep understanding of the problem, with a particular focus on citizens’ perspectives and 2) gathering information on different ways to address the problem, taking inspiration from similar countries and global practice. Our research team at Stockholm HQ supports with research on global examples.
STEP 6
The project team presents the options to the leadership of the organisation and together agree on activities in the short, medium and longer term.
STEP 7
This is when the rubber hits the road, and the project team start to implement the short, medium and long-term solutions to address the problem. During the implementation, we aim to mobilise whatever specific support or resources that are needed. In this phase we place a lot of focus on communication of the change.
STEP 8
Obstacles are inevitable on any change journey, and perhaps even more so for public organisations. Perhaps a key person will change roles, or a new crisis will take up everyone’s attention. We have seen them all and are ready to help the organisation overcome these obstacles.
STEP 9
At regular intervals we will take a step back, learn what is working and not working and change approaches accordingly.
STEP 10
The most important step of the project is to make sure that any change introduced is sustained over time, and that the organisation is left with confidence to take on new problems.