Summarized highlights from Market Systems Insights for DRG – Success as a Dynamic System | David Jacobstein
Redefining Success in Democratic Governance
Market systems view success as dynamic and continuously evolving rather than as a fixed end state
“A strong market system is always improving as it changes – the firms within the system are striving to do better, never able to rest on having completed their work, in ways that improve its overall results.”
Success in market systems includes “crowding in” (replication of effective approaches) and innovation generated through actor interactions
Current DRG (Democracy, Rights, and Governance) approaches often focus on institutional fixes rather than system dynamics
“Success is defined as key reforms passed to ‘fix’ the institutions of governance, rather than enabling local problem solving in an ongoing way.”
“Despite focusing on democratic governance as a participatory system, a lot of DRG programming does not take an explicit facilitation approach.”
Facilitation vs. Direct Implementation
Market systems implementers act as facilitators rather than direct service providers
“Market systems facilitation is all about finding ways to facilitate connections that lead to change in the market system – and this idea of serving as a facilitator of others is quite embedded in the way the work is talked about.”
“Success of the implementer is separate from the outcome of a healthy market system.”
DRG programs often blur the line between implementer success and system outcomes
“The success of our implementers is indistinguishable from the successful end state of the governance system as a whole.”
Shifting Mental Models for DRG
Moving from prescriptive “shoulds” to understanding incentives
“In DRG there is often an idea of what actors should do that is idealized – for example, the idea that civil society ‘should’ hold government accountable.”
Market systems approach recognizes that “firms do what they do and changing what they do requires figuring out ways to shift incentives.”
Reimagining success as dynamic participation and accountability
“I wonder how some of our programming would change in DRG if our idea of success was not an inclusive or accountable set of institutions, but a socio-political system that was constantly innovating in terms of how people participate, how those in power are accountable to the society they serve, and how the democracy renews itself in a dynamic civic space.”
Implications for Implementation and Measurement
Focus on enabling local problem-solving and relationship-building
“All of those require actors within a governance system who constantly learn, adapt, and improve – not just a static set of high-quality ‘rules of the game’ or institutions.”
Programs should invest in “accompanying local actors as they engage in problem solving, facilitating and brokering interactions so that they will continue without us.”
Measure dynamic behaviors rather than static benchmarks
“Better measurement of our success would entail looking more carefully at the sorts of dynamic behaviors – continuous pursuit of improvement, innovation in approaches, crowding in by various actors – in governance, rather than at the quality of institutions against benchmarks.”
