1. Working Politically in Practice: The Asia Foundation’s Experience
Debra Ladner
December 8, 2015 OECD, Paris

2. DFAT-TAF Institutional Partnership
May March 2016, $19 million, 15 programs in 12 countries
Addressing wide range of development problems across different country contexts
Laboratory for experimentation and learning about TWP
Hypothesis: TWP can achieve high impact on certain types of tough development challenges

3. Bangladesh Leather Industry

4. Bangladesh Leather
Problem: Location ranked one of the most polluted places on earth; Industry facing threat of significant export losses
Solution: Move to new location with modern waste water treatment facilities, but process had stagnated due to disagreement on cost-sharing and lack of trust
Strategy: Public-private dialogues, trust-building, understand concerns and motivations, growth projection research
Results: Move is underway, potential environmental and economic impacts are huge

5. Common Elements of Success
Freedom to Iterate and Adapt
Evolving political dynamics and shifting conditions
Program learning
Maintain Focus on Impact
The Right Skills, Capacities, and Team Culture
Challenge function - “critical friend”
Strategy testing

6. Strategy Testing
Requires program teams to take a periodic “structured break” to:
Critically reflect on program learning – new information and insights, shifts in local context, what’s working and what isn’t.
Ask whether the assumptions underpinning the current program theory of change (TOC) are still valid in light of program learning.
Adjust programs to increase the likelihood of achieving results, and document these program changes.

7. Many Thanks!