Pushkar Jha

Shaping solutions from learnings in PAIs: a blueprint

Purpose The paper outlines a portal that facilitates learning through sharing of experiences. This flow is between experience sharers and solution seekers in the domain of poverty alleviation interventions (PAIs). Practitioners working on PAIs are often confined to searching from within “lessons learned” repositories and also from within limited disparate networks configured by aid agencies and consultancies. They do not, as of yet, have access to a comprehensive portal that explores the pool of knowledge carriers and also evaluates their efficacy in contributing to customised solutions. Design/methodology/approach The paper critiques the sufficiency of existing processes for feedback generation and its use in PAIs. In relating to varying contexts of PAIs and experiences that exist from practice, it presents a template of an internet enabled interface to support experience sharing. The authors then illustrate how the portal can deliver to specific issues and problems in different PAI contexts. Findings The SOLVER portal and its process map aim to create an interfacing environment between sharers and seekers for shaping customized solutions from past experiences. Originality/value Improving the performance of PAIs is crucial for societal goals of equitable living and access to opportunity spaces. PAI practitioners are aware of the wealth of past experiences but then struggle to find a coherent and approachable portal that can churn these in response to their specific and contextual needs.

Ingenuity and Systematic Innovation in Poverty Alleviation Initiatives

This article examines poverty alleviation initiatives to analyze how ingenuity and systematic innovation manifest in their design and delivery. The article examines three organizations to contrast their approach toward poverty alleviation. Legacy experience in terms of the approach taken and complexity in portfolio of initiatives come forth as key variables influencing disposition toward systematic innovation or, alternatively, ingenuity. Ingenuity and systematic innovation are presented as conceptual parallels contributing to debates on ingenuity’s positioning in relation to innovation.