Ronald Duncan

This chapter explores practitioner-led transdisciplinary research (TDR) in subsistence marketplaces through two initiatives: Investing in Maasai Women (IMW) in Tanzania and Neurofinanzas in Mexico. Unlike traditional academic-driven models, these cases demonstrate bottom-up approaches where practitioners spearheaded solutions to gender inequality, poverty, and institutional voids. IMW merged Maasai cultural beadwork with leathercraft and global market access to generate sustainable livelihoods, while Neurofinanzas fostered women's financial literacy and entrepreneurship to reduce dependency and vulnerability. Academics provided methodological support and contextual insight but played secondary roles, allowing practitioners to lead trust-building, knowledge co-creation, and adaptation to local realities. Comparative analysis highlights shared TDR principles of co-production, collaboration, reflexivity, and ethical trust, while revealing differences in resource mobilisation and cultural negotiation. These cases advance TDR theory by centring practitioner leadership, embodied and emotional knowledge, and culturally grounded epistemologies, offering a more inclusive vision for addressing complex societal challenges at the bottom of the pyramid.

The paper discusses the problems that have plagued service delivery in Papua New Guinea—both over the long term and with the rollout of the District Development Authority Act of 2014. Various principal/agent and moral hazard problems are identified as well as the persistent poor delivery of national government funds to the local level; the difficulty of recruiting civil service skills into positions in local‐level government; and confirmation that the power to make decisions at the district level remains much the same as before with the composition and influence of the District Development Authority Boards little changed from the former arrangements. Looking at service delivery from a supply–demand perspective, ways are suggested in which improvements may be realised. It appears more likely that improvements will come from an emphasis on increasing the demand for better governance of service delivery rather than from continuing to seek improvements in the supply side of service delivery.

There has been a considerable amount of research into the growth of the Pacific island countries; however, there has been no attempt to identify episodes of growth (and non‐growth) and to identify and understand the factors behind these episodes. This narrative article examines the growth experiences of the eight small and micro states of the North and South Pacific that are members of the World Bank. The experience of Samoa and Vanuatu supports the idea that economic reform can lead to growth spurts. Overall, the narratives suggest that unless aid leads to changes in institutions and policies, it does not have long‐lasting positive growth impacts. As experience in the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands appears to show, substantial aid may raise Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for short periods, but may well have very adverse impacts over the long run.