Innovation is a necessity in a changing world. But what kind of innovation? 'Sustaining innovation' props up and temporarily fixes structures and processes that are failing - making them cheaper, faster, safer, more efficient. 'Disruptive innovation' shakes things up. Typically however disruptive initiatives offer only short-term impact or are eventually adapted and 'mainstreamed' to help sustain existing systems. That is particularly true in the public, social, cultural and civic sectors where the natural patterns of renewal that have been developed in market settings (creative destruction, sophisticated financial support etc.) are generally absent. Only 'transformative innovation' can deliver a fundamental shift towards new patterns of viability in tune with our aspirations for the future. This book offers a first stand-alone practical guide to how to realise transformative potential at scale. It offers six elements for policymakers, funders and innovators: Knowing: how to expand our sense of what constitutes valid knowledge to become more comfortable with complexity Imagining: how to conceive, develop and design transformative initiatives to carry a group's longer term aspirations Being: how to organise for action, manage the process, and sustain the people involved over time Doing: how to introduce the new in the presence of the old, enrol others and figure out what to do when you don't know what to do Enabling: how to construct a policy framework for long term transition and provide smart financing to match Supporting: how to develop systems and structures to support a culture of renewal in our public, social and civic systems. It concludes with an invitation to join a growing community of transformative innovators around the world - a network of hope in powerful times.

Building a capable public service is fundamental to postconflict state building. Yet in postconflict settings, short-term pressures often conflict with this longer-term objective. To ensure peace and stabilize fragile coalitions, the imperative for political elites to hand out public jobs and better pay to constituents dominates merit. Donor-financed projects that rely on technical assistants and parallel structures, rather than on government systems, are often the primary vehicle for meeting pressing service delivery needs. What, then, is a workable approach to rebuilding public services postconflict? Paths between Peace and Public Service seeks to answer this question by comparing public service reform trajectories in five countries - Afghanistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Timor-Leste - in the aftermath of conflict. The study seeks to explain these countries' different trajectories through process tracing and structured, focused methods of comparative analysis. To reconstruct reform trajectories, the report draws on more than 200 interviews conducted with government officials and other stakeholders, as well as administrative data. The study analyzes how reform trajectories are influenced by elite bargains and highlights their path dependency, shaped by preconflict legacies and the specifics of the conflict period. As the first systematic study on postconflict public service reforms, it identifies lessons for the future engagement of development partners in building public services.

A compelling profile of a pioneer in social welfare and human rights policy development in Nova Scotia is provided in this autobiography of Fred MacKinnon. Discussions of key issues that MacKinnon advocated, including the modernization of social assistance, the extension of the child welfare service, and the development of a human rights program accompany personal accounts of his family, career choices, and educational experiences.