Welcome to the IRIS Web Site
The IRIS Center is called on by donors and reform leaders to contribute an informed understanding of how economic and political reforms come about, and how such reforms can be promoted. IRIS’s technical assistance and research incorporate this policy perspective.
IRIS works across the range of institutional reform — evaluating constitutional changes in one country, looking at incentives that keep firms in the informal sector in another. In between are a myriad of activities that study how political, economic, and social institutions are transformed.
In courts in Peru, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, and Bosnia, we work with local champions to test and implement approaches to judicial reform.
In Georgia, Armenia, Kosovo, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, China, Russia, and Afghanistan IRIS assists local reform leaders to
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Enhance the capability of local reformers to analyze policy options
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Address both the substance and demand for policy reforms
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Support solutions to local problems that build on the best comparative experience in other countries
A government that is strong enough to promote development may also pose the greatest obstacle to economic development. This paradox leads us to focus on the interaction of governance institutions and growth. This is where there are often significant gaps in both rules and practices in the developing world — and indeed in the design of donor programs as well.
IRIS supports efforts to increase the effectiveness of donor programs and to better measure their impact. Examples include:
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- Better business environment indicators — IRIS has reviewed the dozens of investor road map and red tape analyses conducted over the last decade, in order to assess the utility of these measures of the “enabling environment”
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Project evaluation — Developing and testing techniques for more accurate and efficient assessment of project impacts
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Testing new project models — Testing new project implementation methods that produce better targeting and more significant measures of impact, such as inter-jurisdictional competitions
In Bangladesh, our JOBS program extends its reach to support clusters of micro-firms to increase their competitiveness in the post-Multi Fiber Accord world.
IRIS developed a framework for thinking more systematically about underlying processes related to the economic, political, security, and social aspects of states facing low effectiveness or legitimacy. As we develop the implications of this framework, we are also linking them to specific intervention options.
A wider recognition of the centrality of better governance to development outcomes has created demand for improved understanding and measures of governance. IRIS is filling this demand in a variety of settings:
Our team members, both in College Park and in our several field offices, were all attracted to IRIS because of our fundamental approach to development, characterized by
Based in a leading university, we are fortunate to have the support of campus leaders who form our Board of Directors, and of faculty and students whose ideas and energy complement our work. We, as well as the university community, benefit from such activities as teaching academic courses, presenting open seminars, and training students as research and program assistants.
The people and the activities of IRIS are described in this newly-redesigned web site. I invite you to browse. We welcome your comments on our work, and on our information.
Dennis Wood
Executive Director, IRIS Center |