International Development Policy Research Shop

Catalog description

This is a directed-study course that provides students with an opportunity to engage with bi-lateral donors, including USAID and the World Bank, on real-world research and evaluation tasks to inform international development programs and practice. This course builds on a collaboration between PDRI-DevLab and development practitioners that promotes the uses and application of high-quality evidence to inform program design and effectiveness. Through PDRI-DevLab’s partnerships with a variety of international donors, students in this course will complete an original research project that will be submitted to an international development donor for review and evaluation. From design to final completion, students will engage with policy specialists and program managers at regular intervals on their project. Students will work on a set of monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL) tasks that may include analysis of quantitative and qualitative data or literature and evidence reviews. The exact products and topics will be selected each semester on a rolling basis, depending on client research interests. These research and learning tasks will examine a variety of development topics and research questions; these might include exploring the relationship between land and resource governance and climate change, biodiversity conservation, human trafficking, women’s empowerment, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, resilience, food security, health, conflict, corruption, and migration and forced displacement, among others. Students will present their final projects to the client either through a remote brown bag session or in-person through a workshop hosted at the Biden Center. This course aims to bridge theory and practice, expose students to real-world issues in international development, and facilitate a real-world professional and client-centered experience for…