The growing emphasis on data driven development presents an opportunity for global development professionals to learn from and perhaps even replicate the successes of the best performers within a data set. But that can only happen once they learn how to take a positive deviance approach, identifying the people or policies that defy the norm and achieve better outcomes as result, as a starting point to determine what is working.

The USA is seeing rising maternal mortality rates in recent years. It shows higher rates than most developed countries, in part due to the country's lack of attention to women's health. California is reversing this trend through their California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) which analyzes data and then uses it to make recommendations and "toolkits" for hospitals to be prepared should an emergency arise in childbirth.

The Office of Neighborhood Safety in Richmond, CA took a radical new approach to urban violence by creating mechanisms to financially stabilize perpetrators of violent acts in crime-ridden neighborhoods - essentially paying people not to kill. They have been dramatically successful at weening violent criminals off the destructive behavior by using a comprehensive approach that includes using solid data, employing mentors with similar backgrounds to the criminals, and monetary incentives.

One in three children in Peru are stunted by a lack of nutritious foods in their diet. In 2005, the government gave cash hand-outs to poor mothers, but only on the condition that they had regular health check-ups and their children went to school. By 2014 the number of children growing up too small had halved.

Tuft University is training global organizations a new approach to create long lasting change. The process teaches locals to identify positive deviance in their community and design a way to spread the behavior, with only local ideas and administration.