Rituals for policy humility

Before launching major policies or philanthropic programs, institutions should adopt built, repeatable rituals (public commitments, staged acknowledgements of uncertainty, independent pre‑mortems) that make decisionmakers explicitly recognize and communicate what they do not know. The rituals need not be literal sacrifices — the point is procedural humility: create visible, institutionalized steps that reduce overconfidence and force better evaluation design. — If adopted, such rituals would reshape how governments and donors justify large interventions, potentially reducing wasted spending and improving accountability by making uncertainty a formal part of policy process.