Economic Diplomacy & Geopolitical Strategy
Trade negotiation, geopolitical risk, and Africa's place in a multipolar world.
The executive challenge
The problem this program solves
Donor-funded economic diplomacy pilots succeed in three districts and fail at scale, and the system cannot explain why one works and the other does not. Citizens do not read the implementation matrix; they experience the clinic, the road, the economic diplomacy service — or its absence. You will trace money to outcomes in the Data Lab, run a delivery review under fire, and leave with a measurement system that resists gaming.
Context
Why this matters now
Capability
What you will be able to do
- Navigate the political economy of economic diplomacy reform without abandoning rigour.
- Manage economic diplomacy programmes with fiduciary discipline and visible value for money.
- Sequence economic diplomacy reform so it survives resistance, turnover and the next budget cycle.
- Trace economic diplomacy money to outcomes and defend the trace under scrutiny.
The IPAT Course Standard
The five-day journey
Each day is a deliberate progression in managerial capability — from strategic context, to analytical frameworks, to applied practice, to executive judgement under pressure, to a capstone that produces something your organisation keeps.
IPAT Signature Case™
The Dam at Two-Thirds
A flagship project at a ministry of finance is two-thirds complete when independent review finds the hydrology assumptions optimistic and a cheaper alternative existed. Cancelling embarrasses the government; completing it strains the debt ceiling.
Your decision: Complete, redesign, or pause — and design the public accountability for whichever you choose, economic diplomacy evidence included.
IPAT Data Lab™
The economic diplomacy data at a devolved county government measures activity; nobody measures delivery.
Dataset: Synthetic administrative and survey data for a devolved county government — the two sources disagree.
Your task: Reconcile the sources, build the delivery dashboard, and defend it before a faculty "cabinet".
A economic diplomacy delivery dashboard that resists gaming.
Data → Analysis → Decision, not Data → Code → Certificate
Day 5 · The Capstone
What will you change when you return to work?
Build the design and evaluation framework for your institution's flagship programme: evidence base, causal chain, measurement, and delivery governance.
Methodology
Frameworks you will master
- • IPAT Data-to-Decision Framework™
- • IPAT Transformation Architecture™
- • Cost-benefit analysis and regulatory impact assessment
- • Results-based management
- • Randomized and quasi-experimental evaluation methods
Cohorts
Upcoming cohorts
New dates are being scheduled
Register with your preferred start date and our admissions team will match you to the next available cohort — or contact us to arrange an in-house delivery for your organisation.
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