What it is
A bounded, mandate-backed engagement around one chronic public problem, run alongside the people already accountable for it.
Gov Action Lab
Mandate-backed problem-solving inside government.
Gov Action Lab helps an existing public team work through a chronic, named implementation problem without creating a parallel programme. Government keeps ownership; the Initiative brings a problem-solving discipline, facilitation and documentation.
What it is. What it is not.
Government owns the priority, the authority, the implementation and the decisions. The Initiative brings a problem-solving discipline, facilitation, practitioner support, evidence and documentation. A fellow or coordinator supports the process; they do not replace the accountable officer.
What it is not
Not a parallel delivery unit, not a consulting hand-off, and not a substitute for the accountable officer's decisions.
Entry conditions
An engagement starts only when these are in place.
These conditions exist so that problem-solving has somewhere real to land, not so that entry becomes a formality.
Named problem
A specific, chronic implementation problem, not a generic sector label.
Accountable public owner
A named officer or public counterpart who owns the priority and the decisions.
Embedded coordinator
A fellow, coordinator or equivalent role already close to the system and the work.
Access to the workflow
Access to the relevant workflow and data needed to diagnose the problem properly.
A review forum
A senior review or decision forum that can act on what the engagement finds.
How an engagement starts
State entry is a sequence, not a separate product.
State or department conversation
An initial conversation with the relevant state or department counterpart about where problem-solving capacity is needed.
Problem-space selection
State-priority themes and context-specific tracks are weighed together so the focus stays real, not generic.
Accountable owner confirmed
A named public owner takes responsibility for the priority, the review cadence and the eventual decision.
Bounded diagnostic start
The engagement begins with a deliberately small, reviewable diagnostic rather than a broad thematic rollout.
Decision gate
The engagement reaches its first structured decision point on whether to continue, adapt or stop.
Five-stage discipline
Every engagement runs on the same operating loop.
Gov Action Lab reuses the Model methodology rather than a separate framework. This is the short version — the full methodology, with every tool, lives on Model.
01
Diagnose
Frame the problem and its causes.
02
Design
Build a minimum viable intervention.
03
Embed
Put routines and accountability in place.
04
Measure & Learn
Track what changed and what failed.
05
Replicate
Convert learning into reusable capability.
First decision gate
A decision gate, not a universal promise.
The first roughly ninety days are a diagnosis, design and decision gate — not a guarantee of outcomes. The question the gate answers is whether the problem, the intervention, the operating conditions and government commitment justify continued work.
DailyField capture and learning logs
WeeklyMonitoring and problem-solving check-ins
MonthlyDistrict or department review
QuarterlyState-level learning review
What comes out
Every engagement produces something reusable.
Decision notes
What was decided at each review point, and why.
Process maps
How the problem actually moves through the system.
Learning logs
What was tried, what changed and what failed.
Tested operating practices
Routines that held up under real conditions.
Evidence on outcomes
What changed, what did not, and under what conditions.
Reusable knowledge
Learning that flows into Gov Collective for the next team.
Illustrative starting spaces
Bounded, and labelled illustrative.
These spaces illustrate the kind of chronic implementation problem a Gov Action Lab engagement can take on. Diagnosis determines the actual intervention — the website does not promise a pre-selected solution.
Education
Chronic implementation gaps in how learning outcomes translate into classroom and system practice.
Health
Persistent service-delivery gaps between health policy intent and frontline practice.
Women & child development / nutrition
Coordination and continuity problems in programmes meant to reach women and children.
Closing the loop.
Learning from a Gov Action Lab engagement is curated through Gov Collective so the next public team starts better prepared. Repeated learning, over time, informs what GovCap builds.
Gov Collective
Turns field learning into case notes, pathways and reusable objects.
GovCap
Converts repeated learning into capability and continuity tools.
Work with TGI
Two ways to engage.
For government
Bring a chronic problem, an accountable public owner, an embedded coordinator and a review forum.
Start a conversation
For funders and partners
Support the independent learning and evidence layer built around the work.
Request a briefing