News and views from the Blavatnik School of Government community 
March was a critical month for the unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world. While the virus started to spread rapidly across different countries, China, Spain and Italy portrayed a sombre future for those that left the virus unchecked. And that seemed to be the case for Brazil. As […]
The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought the policymaking process into sharp focus, highlighting the complex and interconnected challenges on how to take decisive action in the face of so many ‘unknown unknowns’. As countries around the world move towards easing lockdown measures, governments have struggled with the unintended consequences of […]
I’ve just finished running a global commission based here at the Blavatnik School of Government: Pathways for Prosperity, co-chaired by – among others – Melinda Gates. It was set up to challenge the narrative that in developing countries, technology necessarily equals catastrophic job losses and widening inequalities, and to explore […]
In 2018, Uganda passed a daily ‘social media tax’ of 200 Ugandan shillings (around US$0.05) for several internet applications, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. Policymakers hoped the measure would increase revenue. It backfired: after the introduction of the tax, use of online platforms and tax revenues from these services plummeted […]
Christina is an engaged, capable and professional young woman. She excelled in her university studies and had the pick of employers for her first job. A strong commitment to her community led her to work for her country’s government, where she has progressed rapidly through a set of increasingly challenging […]
At the Blavatnik School of Government students are taught how to critically analyse, develop, and influence public policy. The tools and skills gained by students are universal and the ability to think about policy challenges through economic, philosophical, legal, scientific, and political lenses opens a wide array of professional paths. […]
One of my cardinal objectives for applying to the Master of Public Policy (MPP) programme at the Blavatnik School of Government was exploring how to improve communications between think tanks and policymakers in Nigeria. My own experience working with Nigerian think tanks has taught me that, regardless of the rigour […]
When I first suggested the topic of this blog to a friend, he said it was an oxymoron. Design and government? Thinking and government? If design thinking is all about putting people first, many do not believe that policies really put people first. The design thinking process involves many steps […]