USAID/PPL Complexity Event

On October 12, 2011, the USAID Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning (PPL) hosted an event on Complexity Theory. The purpose of this one‐day USAID Complexity Event was to respond to the considerable interest across the agency to better understand the central ideas of complexity thinking and its implications for development practice in crisis and transitional countries. The Event introduced complexity thinking to those unfamiliar with it, and provided opportunities for deeper discussion of how to better adapt development practices to complex environments.

Objectives

The Complexity Event was intended to answer four key questions:

1. What is a complex system and how is it different from more ordered ones?
2. How do these conceptions of complexity help us think and act?
3. What are the implications for development practice in crisis and transitional countries—planning, design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation—if we take complexity seriously?
4. Is complexity something USAID should take seriously and, if so, what is the way forward?