Workshops
Workshop 1: Perspectives for America Latina: Values in the context of development
Through the workshop we are hoping students will a) be better informed about issues effecting the region b) be able to have a meaningful conversation and open dialogue about a certain issue (or issues) facing Latin America.
Workshop 2: Center for International Development workshop: What makes PDIA and DDD different from traditional approaches to development?
Development is a mirage. What you see is often not what you get. Schools are built but children do not learn. Health facilities exist but there are no doctors. In order to change the status quo, we need a paradigm shift in the way we do development. This begins by accepting that we do not have all the answers, but we can try, test, learn, iterate and adapt to find and fit solutions within their contexts. In this workshop, you will have an opportunity to experientially learn about the latest acronyms in development: Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) and Doing Development Differently (DDD).
Workshop 3: Building More Sustainable and Effective Healthcare Systems in African Countries with a Robust Prevention and Health Management Sector
During this iterative work¬shop, participants will experience the application of a Human Centered Design Approach (HCD) in development. Participants will begin thinking like designers, making use of selective tools and methodologies common in design, marketing, and start-up approaches. In the end of the workshop, participants will get an appreciation for the possibilities of adopting context-specific and politically-sensitive approach to address¬ing social problems.
Workshop 4: The Secret of Economic Development: on Economic Complexity and Productive Know-How
Well-being is a natural goal for measuring development success. Relying on a country’s per capita GDP to asses levels of well-being has many limitations … but well-being is hard to measure. We will discuss how to track well-being and present an approach that BCG has developed for country comparisons on the basis of a broad measure of well-being and that can serve as a diagnostic tool for identifying policy priorities.
Workshop 5: The Emperor’s New Clothes: from evidence to empathy – a practical application of a Human Centered Design approach to development
In a world of scarce resources, making decisions on which programs to fund or which interventions to prioritize is hard. In development, this situation is magnified by a myriad of unmet social and economic needs and even scarcer resources. To help guide these decisions, many development practitioners have reverted to ‘evidence’ of what works and what does not work in development. Yet the abundance of this ex ante knowledge alone is not enough to help understand the complex ecologies where development occurs.
Workshop 6: The secret of economic growth: on economic complexity and productive know-how
Economists believe the secret to economic growth is not education, or capital, but technology. This session will present new research from the Harvard Center for International Development that finds this technology is not a set of tools and formulas, as conventionally described, but knowhow—the ability of an individual to perform a task to be highly predictive of economic growth. The session will present a workshop in which participants will be trained in the use of the Atlas of Economic Complexity, a free online platform to visualize country trade dynamics and the complexity of its export basket. Participant groups will present findings on a real-world exercise to recommend potential opportunities for Kenyan exports to the U.S. to expand their knowhow and diversify economic production. The goal of the session is to leave participants with a new vision of development and with experience in using a publicly available tool to enhance the economic growth strategies of countries across the world.
Workshop 7: Metrics and their discontents: performance indicators across development domains
Recent years have seen a sea change in measurement and ‘pay for performance’ in development. This workshop will explore the implications and timing of different measurement schema, and will ask participants to break into groups to discuss what they see as the best possible measures for different hypothetical development interventions. The conversation that ensues will explore the opportunities and limitations of metrics as a tool for improving aid and project performance.
Workshop 8: Careers In Development
A ques¬tion and answer series with pro¬fes¬sion¬als work¬ing in dif¬fer¬ent inter¬na¬tional devel¬op¬ment organ¬i¬za¬tions share their expe¬ri¬ences! A great panel to under¬stand the skills required to estab-lish a suc¬cess¬ful career in Inter¬na¬tional devel¬op-ment. An exclu¬sive con¬ver¬sa¬tion with senior offi-cials from the World Bank, BCG, JPAL and other organization!