Open Problem 14

The Agency Premium

Do community-led programs outperform top-down ones on the same outcome, and by how much?

Status: open
What would count as progress

Head-to-head comparisons of community-led and expert-led versions of the same intervention, in several contexts.

Why it matters

The case for listening to the people served is strong in principle. A measured premium would make it impossible to ignore, and a measured cost would show where expertise should lead.

Where to start

Look for interventions that have been delivered both ways, such as community-driven development programs evaluated against centrally planned ones.