SCHOOL of INTERNATIONAL SERVICE

American University · Washington, D.C.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Welcome to the International Development Program
at the School of International Service

Click on one of the following sections to find out more about who we are, what we believe in, and what we aim to achieve through this program.

Our Focus / Distinctive Features / Academic Program / Common Areas of Concentration / Special Opportunities / Community and Connections / Faculty

Our Focus

Our focus is on Social Justice, and doing something about it. Our attention is on the world's poor and disenfranchised. We are idealistic and practical. We aim to be to be both ethical and professional.

The International Development Program (IDP) is one of the most widely recognized development programs in the United States. Now in its 33rd year, we encourage and train students to listen actively, learn with care, analyze and empathize. Students are taught to value concepts, respect complexity, think critically and independently; and to design, implement and influence change – socio-economic, political, and environmental. We emphasize both the moral and practical necessity—and the challenge—of participation.

To help us achieve our purpose we have put together one of the largest concentrations of faculty who teach, research and practice in international development-related positions around the world. We have great students and enthusiastic, supportive alumni.

Distinctive Features

Social Justice/ Applied Skills: In pursuing social justice, we emphasize the need both to ensure that the values and visions of all concerned are included, regardless of race, class, religion, or gender, and to enhance and professionalize students' applied and technical skills.

Practice-Theory: Combining respect for theory and concept with training in state-of-the-art technical professional skills currently used in development institutions and in the field, such as policy analysis, program design, gender analysis, social assessment, cost-benefit analysis, microfinance, monitoring & evaluation, rapid appraisal techniques, conflict resolution, and information technology.

Generalist-Specialist: A multi-disciplinary core program combined with the opportunity to complete professional concentrations in one of a wide variety of specialized areas including development management, gender, economic policy, development economics, environment, small enterprise development, globalization, political economy, development policy, community development, children/youth and democracy and governance, and more.

Global-Local: Combining macro-micro analysis to clarify the impacts of globalization and other macro-level factors on people in local communities, and assessing the options that exist at the local and global levels for influencing these forces.

Action-Research: The use of Washington, DC and the world as learning laboratories to enable students to participate in professional affiliations, internships and practicum experiences, and to combine research and action with an integrated, problem-solving approach to development challenges.

Academic Program

The ID graduate curriculum is anchored in a carefully structured series of core courses and offers students the opportunity to custom-design a particular focus of concentration to fit their interests and proposed careers.

Degree options include:

• MA in International Development (MAID) - Provides a multidisciplinary overview of international development issues and policies that enables students to select and focus on a particular field of concentration in which to develop a professional identity (see examples below). Students in the MAID program are given the opportunity to conduct original research to complete their program. They can do this in one of three ways: a master's thesis; a substantial research paper and an internship/professional affiliation; or two substantial research papers. (More Information)
• Master of Science in Development Management (MSDM) - Designed to train individuals with prior experience (a minimum of two years) working in developing countries, the MSDM combines skills from development, business and public management for those specifically interested in the management of development programs and activities and organizational and institutional development. The capstone of the MSDM program is an applied special practicum involving a field activity in a developing community or organization. (More Information)
• Dual Degrees - Students can also earn a dual degree MAID/MBA or MSDM/MBA in conjunction with American University's Kogod School of Business; and a dual degree MSDM/Master of Theological Studies in conjunction with the Wesleyan Seminary. Other dual degrees are supported, for example, MSDM/Master of Public Affairs.

Common Areas of Concentration

Common areas of concentration include:
Community Development, Conflict, Peace-building and Development, Development Management, Development Economics, Development Policy, Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development, Environment and Development, Gender and Development, Governance and Democracy, Globalization, International Health, Human Rights, Evaluation Methods, International Education, International Political Economy, NGO Management, Program and Project Management.

In consultation with faculty a student may develop a distinctive concentration. A Children and Youth concentration is currently being developed.

Special Opportunities

• Skills Institutes
  Students may take up to six Skills Institute courses as part of their concentration. These intensive three-day one credit courses train students in state-of-the-art techniques used in international development and are taught by development professionals who regularly use these skills in the field. We offer ten institutes every year. Current institutes include: Business Development Services, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Cultural Dynamics of Management, Gender Analysis, International Resource Development/Proposal Writing, Organizational Development, Project and Program Evaluation, Rapid Appraisal Techniques, Strategic Planning, and Private Sector Skills for Social Entrepreneurship. Other SIS Programs, namely Peace and Conflict Resolution and International Communication offer other Institutes.
• Tinker-Walker Travel Fellowships
  Students are encouraged to include overseas field experience in their research, internship, or practicum. Through the ID program's endowed Irene Tinker-Millidge Walker Fellowship, students can receive financial support to offset the costs of travel. Recently students have used this fellowship to work with:
  
  Cambodian Center for Human Rights - Cambodia
  Development & Education Programme for Daughters and Communities (DEPDC) – Thailand
  ECODIT – Tanzania
  Fanstsuam Foundation – Nigeria
  Georgian Ministry of Health’s Trafficking in Persons Fund – Republic of Georgia
  Mercy Corps - Sudan
  Pastoral de la Tierra & Kuchub’al - Ecuador
  Pastoral Resolve - Nigeria
  Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF) - Vietnam
  UN Development Programme - Fiji
  UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (UNESCWA) – Lebanon
  UNICEF – Ghana
  World Learning – Bosnia-Herzogovina
  
• Steve Arnold Innovative Small Grants
  Named after the founder and first director of the International Development Program, these grants to students fund innovative development ideas that may be useful to communities, organizations, and/or the ID program, or may serve as catalysts or provide leverage for other undertakings.
• Walter Sherwin Award for Community Service and Academic Excellence
  Donated by Kitty Sherwin, in honor of her husband, whose life work in development focused on practical idealism. It is granted to an outstanding second year student who has no other fellowship or award.
• Job and Internship Update Services
  We care about both good internships, and even more so about jobs. Our Office provides our students with an almost daily update of temporary and permanent jobs and also internships provided to us by variety of listservs and networks and our alumni. We also take advantage of opportunities offered by SIS and the AU career Center.

Community and Connections

Faculty: We have an impressive concentration of faculty in the ID Program. We are also able to rely on development faculty in other Programs and Schools. All our faculty have been appointed as ‘scholar-practitioners,’ that is, not only are they excellent scholars but they all have field experience in developing countries. They are distinguished by their scholarly reputation, diversity, practical field experience, commitment to teaching, and strong, caring and collegial relationships with our students. Click here to learn more about the ID faculty

Students: Approximately 100 master's students from all parts of the world are in residence in the ID program. Most came to the program with prior international development experience, and all benefit from the access to host of views, approaches and experiences afforded by study in Washington, D.C. The student organization, the International Development Program Student Association (IDPSA), actively represents student interests, and sponsors social and academic events. These include happy hours, community outreach, a peer mentoring system, and a regular series of Friday Development Fora at which off-campus professionals discuss current approaches, trends and experiences.

Alumni: Graduates of the ID program currently work in a wide variety of organizations including Academy for Educational Development, Catholic Relief Services, Creative Associates, Global Fund for Women, Grameen Foundation, Inter-American Development Bank, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, Save the Children, Timor Aid, UN Development Program, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, US Agency for International Development, World Bank, World Vision, and many other non-governmental organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. The IDP Alumni Association actively supports the program and runs a mentoring system for students.

Washington, DC: The city is home to the largest number of development organizations and libraries in the world, as well as government, international, private, and non-governmental organizations, advocacy groups, and think-tanks of all kinds. These organizations are invaluable sources of primary data for research and provide unparalleled opportunities for internships and future employment.

Faculty

Core Faculty

• David Hirschmann, Program Director
• Deborah Brautigam
• Robin Broad
• Miguel Carter
• Louis W. Goodman
• James Lee
• John M. Richardson
• Vidyamali Samarasinghe
• Loubna Skalli Hanna

Adjunct Faculty & Skills Institute Instructors

• Gordon Appleby, Consultant to World Bank and MCC
• Jacqueline Bass, Emerging Markets Group
• John Beyer, Nathan and Associates
• Roberto Chavez, World Bank (Retired)
• Joe Eldridge, AU Chaplain
• Joyce Francis, Independent Consultant
• Emily Gantz McKay, Mosaica
• Steve Hansch, NGO Adviser
• Nancy Horn, Independent Consultant
• Cheryl Levin, Housing and Urban Development
• Patricia Morris, Women for Women
• Geetha Nagarajan, IRIS University of Maryland
• Molly Reilly, Just Associates
• Irving Rosenthal, USAID (Retired)
• Michael Zeilinger, USAID