Welcome to Episode 6 of Systems Practice in International Development. This is episode 2 of a 2-part series with guests from The Asia Foundation, Nicola Nixon (Senior Director of Governance) and Gopa Kumar Thampi (Senior Governance Advisor at The Asia Foundation in Sri Lanka).

In this episode, we zoom into the practical experiences in adaptive programming. We discuss learning from failure to the type of teams required to deliver this work, use of evidence for decision making and adaptation, and addressing the most important currency in this type of work – trust.

This episode’s guests

Nicola Nixon is the Senior Director of Governance at The Asia Foundation (TAF). She specialises in inclusive and participatory governance with over 25 years’ practical and research experience in Eastern Europe and South and Southeast Asia. She has worked with universities, private foundations, donor and UN agencies, and NGOs. She has published widely and has presented research to government, development and academic audiences in numerous international forums, often looking at the politics and practices of international development cooperation. In her current role, she supports TAF programs across the Asia Pacific in areas such as subnational governance, public-sector reform, knowledge-to-policy, civil society strengthening and law and justice.

Gopa Kumar K Thampi is a Senior Governance Advisor at The Asia Foundation in Sri Lanka. Over his career, he has worked across 25 countries in Africa, Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and Eastern Europe, collaborating with development partners, state institutions, public agencies, and CSOs to address governance reforms, public accountability, and capacity building. He played a key role in establishing the Global and South Asia hubs of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability (ANSA) based at BRAC University in Dhaka, where he managed both from 2009 to 2011. Currently, Gopa co-chairs the Steering Committee of the World Bank’s Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA), fostering collaboration between civil society and governments to address critical governance challenges. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Peace and Justice at BRAC University, and serves on the Advisory Board of ARUTHA, a Colombo-based policy think tank focused on economic research, public debt, and taxation.

This podcast is produced and hosted by the Portfolio Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (PMEL) programme in Nepal, funded by the British Embassy Kathmandu and implemented by Abt Global. Please note, the views expressed through this podcast reflect those
of the hosts and guests only.

Welcome to Episode 5 of Systems Practice in International Development. This is episode 1 of a 2-part series with guests from The Asia Foundation, Nicola Nixon (Senior Director of Governance) and Gopa Kumar Thampi (Senior Governance Advisor at The Asia Foundation in Sri Lanka).

We discuss the state of adaptive programming in our sector today, their newly launched strategy testing workbook, lessons learned from ten years of implementing adaptive programming across geographies and technical sectors, and we’re going to bust some myths about adaptive management towards the end.

This episode’s guests

Nicola Nixon is the Senior Director of Governance at The Asia Foundation (TAF). She specialises in inclusive and participatory governance with over 25 years’ practical and research experience in Eastern Europe and South and Southeast Asia. She has worked with universities, private foundations, donor and UN agencies, and NGOs. She has published widely and has presented research to government, development and academic audiences in numerous international forums, often looking at the politics and practices of international development cooperation. In her current role, she supports TAF programs across the Asia Pacific in areas such as subnational governance, public-sector reform, knowledge-to-policy, civil society strengthening and law and justice.

Gopa Kumar K Thampi is a Senior Governance Advisor at The Asia Foundation in Sri Lanka. Over his career, he has worked across 25 countries in Africa, Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and Eastern Europe, collaborating with development partners, state institutions, public agencies, and CSOs to address governance reforms, public accountability, and capacity building. He played a key role in establishing the Global and South Asia hubs of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability (ANSA) based at BRAC University in Dhaka, where he managed both from 2009 to 2011. Currently, Gopa co-chairs the Steering Committee of the World Bank’s Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA), fostering collaboration between civil society and governments to address critical governance challenges. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Peace and Justice at BRAC University, and serves on the Advisory Board of ARUTHA, a Colombo-based policy think tank focused on economic research, public debt, and taxation.

This podcast is produced and hosted by the Portfolio Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (PMEL) programme in Nepal, funded by the British Embassy Kathmandu and implemented by Abt Global. Please note, the views expressed through this podcast reflect those
of the hosts and guests only.

Welcome to Episode 04 of Systems Practice in International Development. We are delighted to introduce this limited series produced by the Portfolio MEL (PMEL) programme in Nepal, funded by the British Embassy Kathmandu and implemented by Abt Global. We hope you enjoyed the first part of our conversation with USAID colleagues on their recently launched Local Systems Position paper. If you haven’t listened to it already, it is available on Apple and Spotify.

In part two of this series, we’ll dive deeper into the practical side of systems thinking—exploring how USAID missions bring the Local Systems Position Paper to life, tackle practical implementation challenges, and rethink the role of donors to truly embrace systems practice.

This Episode's Guests

David Jacobstein has been with USAID for 12 years. He serves as a Political Economy and Localization Specialist in the Policy Learning and Integration Office of the Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance Bureau, where he focuses on issues of capacity strengthening, systems thinking, political economy, locally-led development, and cross-sectoral integration. He leads work that has promulgated measurement and programming recommendations through the Local Capacity Strengthening Policy, and served as a co-author of the Local Systems Framework.

Monalisa Salib is the Chief of Party of the USAID/Vietnam Learns Activity implemented by Social Impact. Her nearly 20 years of experience in international development includes long-term, field-based senior management and technical positions in Washington, D.C., Palestine, Yemen, and Vietnam. Monalisa was a co-creator of USAID’s Collaborating, Learning & Adapting (CLA) Framework and Maturity Tool and several other CLA resources on behalf of USAID.

Rachel Leeds is a Strategy Analyst in USAID's Bureau for Planning, Learning, and Resource Management and a member of USAID's Local Systems Community of Practice. She led the consultation and drafting process for the Agency's new Local Systems Position Paper. She received her Bachelor's in Anthropology and Global Development Studies from the University of Virginia and her Master's of International Development Policy from Georgetown University.

This podcast is produced and hosted by the Portfolio Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (PMEL) programme in Nepal, funded by the British Embassy Kathmandu and implemented by Abt Global. Please note, the views expressed through this podcast reflect those
of the hosts and guests only.