Learning While Doing: A 12-Step Program for Policy Change

This essay by CGD director of communications and policy Lawrence MacDonald and senior fellow and vice president for programs and operations Ruth Levine describes a variety of approaches and techniques that the Center for Global Development has used to achieve its mission: improving rich-world policies and practices towards developing countries. It outlines an emerging 12-step program that the Center's staff has applied successfully in a variety of policy contexts, with particular attention to how the Center has tracked the impact of these initiatives. The essay concludes with suggestions for improving the field of policy advocacy impact evaluation more broadly.