Assignments

Weekly Memos and Responses

The class will be divided randomly into two groups: Group A and Group B. In each class, one group will write a memo, and the other will write a response to the memos written by their colleagues. The groups will alternate writing memos and responses. These assignments are to be based on the required readings for each class.

Mini Essays

Students will complete three mini-essays at the end of Units 1, 2, and 3. The deadline for submission is the first day of class of the subsequent unit. The goal of these essays is to give students an opportunity to reflect upon the issues discussed in class during each unit.

Final Project

Students, either individually or in groups of 2–3, will develop a proposal for a development intervention of their choice, as if they were to be presented to a funding / supporting organization for actual implementation. The idea is to expose students to the process through which development ideas are transformed into practice, preparing them for future work in the international development field.

Extra Credit

At the beginning of the semester, students will decide collectively on an alternative online platform (such as a Facebook group or online blog) to use for further class discussion. The engagement with the class through this alternative platform will be voluntary, but active participants will receive extra credit toward their final grade.

This year, students chose a Facebook group. There were a few house rules:

**Be considerate of your colleagues.
**Treat all opinions with mutual respect. This will help build the trust and foundation both in and out of class to create a stimulating conversation. Consideration means: No derogatory language, no personal attacks, and no graphic / disturbing media. It’s okay to have a friendly discussion about a topic that not everyone agrees about, as long as folks are considerate.
**This is for you. When you comment, add value.
**We encourage you to use this as a chance to contribute to the conversation through questions and responses. Comments like “great,” “nice” or “thumbs up” do not add a lot of value to the discussion. Use the group as a chance to learn from each other and to hear different perspectives.
**What happens in the group stays in the group.
**Respect your colleagues’ privacy and do not share their posts outside of the group without their permission.
**What’s shared online stays online.
**We have all heard plenty of photos, comments, and responses that have gone on to haunt someone. Please do be considerate and thoughtful that everything seems to be permanent on the Internet.
**Any posts that don’t meet these rules will be removed.
**If we find content that is inconsiderate (defamatory, derogatory, etc.), we will remove that comment and have the right to block the individual responsible for it.

In order to earn extra credit and boost their grades, students had to do the following:

Post and introduce one article seven out of the ten final weeks of class. Be sure to introduce the post and, ideally, include the accompanying article photo to grab people’s attention.
Comment in response to your post or someone else’s post during seven weeks. The comment should be thoughtful and meaningful, beyond a “good job” or “thumbs up.”

Overview

Develop a final project independently, or in groups of 2 or 3. The project consists on the elaboration of a proposal for a development intervention of their choice (i.e., a draft business plan for a business targeting the BOP; a project for implementing sanitation in rural areas; or an advocacy campaign to increase awareness on women’s rights), as if they were to be presented to a funding / supporting organization for actual implementation.

The idea is to expose students to the process through which development ideas are transformed into practice, preparing them future work in the international development field.

Students are free to choose topics that interest them or that they have worked on in the past. These proposals are not supposed to be completely professional, but should represent students’best effort to create an idea, gather evidence, and create an initial plan to transform this idea into practice.

For example, successful students will demonstrate thoughtfulness by considering how the local context (history, geographical area, and culture) affects their plan. They will also be asked to consider which theories, practices, stakeholders, and implementation issues (especially those discussed in Class) are the most relevant to their individual projects.

As the teaching team has supervised students closely during individual office hours throughout the semester, this Final project intends to be a thoughtful step towards a “next step” in their engagement with development issues, be that a summer internship, a Major Thesis, or a volunteer project they might be interested in pursuing further after the semester ends.

Components

The project consists of an outline (created from this final project outline template (PDF)), a class presentation, and a final paper.

Final Project Paper Length: If paper is written individually: 2,500 to 3,000-word document that details the answers to the relevant questions below. If your project is written as a group: 5,000–6,000 words. You could either: Focus on the same problem of two different perspectives (two sides to the solution) or extend the depth of detail of the solution you’re proposing.

Presentations will happen during sessions 22 & 24. If presenting individually, your presentation limit is 7 minutes with time for a brief Q&A. If presenting as a group, your presentation limit is 14 minutes with time for a brief Q&A. You will receive feedback after your presentation so you can integrate it into your final paper.

The final paper is due on session 25.

Guidelines

Every project is different, so every proposal will be different. Use the questions below to help guide the development of your proposal:

Background

Lay out the need for your project.
What is the problem you are trying to mitigate?
Where is this problem happening?
How long has this been a problem?
Who are the actors involved in the problem?

Project Description

Describe your solution.
To consider: How does it work? What is the methodology? How is your idea compare to existing solutions for community needs? What key factors contributed to the design of your project?

Feasibility

Share your work to date
To consider: What preliminary planning or work have you done already? What research have you done to support your project? What have been your major milestones? Do you have a prototype, business plan or other plans?
Share your implementation plan
To consider: What is your approach and plan for proceeding? What will be your key milestones? How will you measure your progress? What is the scope of your project?
Challenges
To consider: What are the challenges that you’ll face in developing your project? How will you address these challenges?
Support network
To consider: Describe the set of community partners and advisors who will assist you with your project development. What roles will they serve in developing the project?
Timeline: What is the time horizon you are proposing to implement your solution?
To consider: Sketch out the main steps in a Gantt chart or timeline. What will you do in the next 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months and beyond. Who is responsible for each role?

Community Connection & Impact

Connection
To consider: Who are your partners? How do their roles fit with your work? What types of relationships will be necessary to build in the next year as implement your project?
Magnitude of effect
To consider: Who will be affected by your work? How will it affect the people for whom it is intended?

Team

Who is on your team or who do you need to recruit?
Does the composition of the team match the skills needed to implement the project?
Do the team members bring transferrable experience from previous work to this project?

Describe Your Audience

Which organization do you intend to request support from?
How are your project goals aligned with this supporting organization?
What are the benefits you envision from having support from this organization?
What are the limitations you foresee facing your project because of eventual support from this organization?

Mini Essay 1: Reflection on Unit 1—Unlearning Development (Length: 750–1000 words)

Please choose your favorite topic among the five classes in Unit 1 and explain how it transformed the way you think about development. You must refer to both the required readings assigned for the class, as well as the topics discussed during the class discussions.

Mini Essay 2: Reflection on Unit 2—Development: From Theories to Strategies (Length: 1000–1250 words)

Please choose two classes from Unit 2. Explain the development strategy of “Period A” and how it transitioned to the strategies or situation of “Period B.” For example, you could explain how the developmental state led to the debt crisis or how the debt crisis led to the Washington Consensus. Incorporate at least two graphs (from Google Data Explorer or another public opinion database of your preference) to illustrate your arguments. You should cite the required readings of the classes you chose to focus on as references in your mini essay.

Mini Essay 3: Reflection on Unit 3—Connecting Institutions, Organizations, and Projects (Length: 750–900 words)

Please choose one class from Unit 3 (private sector, the public sector, NGOs, etc.). Then, select one organization from your chosen sector (FAO or UNICEF from the private sector, national government or local government from the public sector, OXFAM or MSF from NGOs, etc.) and select an initiative promoted by that organization within the past ten years. Assess the pros and cons of the intervention based on the conceptual framework we discussed in class:

Part 1: Explain the nature of the problem the intervention is trying to address
Part 2: Assess the comparative advantage of the organization in solving the problem
Part 3: Find evidence of performance (to the best of your ability)
Part 4: Explore the trade-offs involved in the intervention

While Parts 1–3 are essential, most of the essay should be focused on Part 4.

Example Outline

Part 1

Child nutrition is one of the most pressing developmental challenges in the 21^st century. Bangladesh is one of the countries that had shown the greatest progress in the past few years, but there is a still lot to do in terms of developing permanent institutional capacity in the country.

Part 2

UNICEF established a program in Bangladesh in 2012 on reducing child malnutrition. The organization has a mandate for working with child-related issues and a long track record projects in this area.

Part 3

According to their 2013 report available online, they managed to reduce malnutrition by 20%.

Part 4

The results demonstrated by UNICEF are impressive: In a short period of time, they managed to promote a significant reduction of malnutrition in the country.
On the other hand, the approach used does not give priority to in-country ownership, so it is likely that the structural problems happening in the country will continue to affect the wellbeing of the children living there.
As an international organization, UNICEF has the experience and expertise to address child-related issues successfully, but as an international organization it still struggles to generate permanent change as an “outsider.”
A more effective dialogue with the local government is necessary to change this situation. There are examples of this “new” kind of partnership being used by other development organizations, such as the NGO Partners in Health, which has a very successful program in Uganda to promote local government ownership. Perhaps a partnership between the two organizations could point to creative ways in which the project in Bangladesh can generate better outcomes in the future.

Every student will have the opportunity to skip two weekly memos and two weekly memo responses for the semester. Students are free to choose which week they skip. Students will not be required to hand in memos or memo responses on the days that we have other assignments due.

Weekly Memo

Students must write 300 words (based on this memo template (PDF)) providing summary and critical analysis of the readings assigned for the day. Each group will write one memo per week. These are due 24 hours before class.

Weekly Memo Response

A paragraph-long comment each student makes on one of the memos posted by a student of the other group. Students will have the 24 hours before class (i.e., between when the other group turns their memos in and when class begins) to post their comments about that class’s memos. Each group will write one memo response per week.

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Introduction to International Development