Archive for MPA in development practice

Fundación Sergio from Colombia visited Columbia as part of the MPA-DP Seminars to talk about Bullying and Discrimination

Posted by Columbia SIPA 
· Friday, December 6th, 2019 

Alba Reyes, founder of Fundación Sergio Urrego a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting tolerance and ending school bullying, along with other representatives from the organization, visited SIPA this semester as part of the MDP seminar.

Ms. Reyes shared how her personal tragedy sparked the nationwide movement that now goes beyond Colombia’s borders. The format of the seminar was in the form of the discussion, and participants of the seminar had an opportunity to ask numerous questions. Questions included how the organization tackles homophobic attitudes present in the country, how they brought anti-discrimination provisions into legislation, and how they cooperate with other organizations of the world with similar agendas. Our guests from the organization were delighted to share that recently they launched suicide prevention hotline for youth.

Even after the formal part of the seminar ended the students surrounded Ms. Reyes to ask additional questions on the topic.

Learn more about MPA-DP seminars here: https://bit.ly/328KfLZ

Learn more about the MPA-DP Program:

Categories : Student Life
Tags :

Cassia Moraes MPA-DP ’15 of Youth Climate Leaders

Posted by Columbia SIPA 
· Friday, November 15th, 2019 

As CEO and partnerships lead at Youth Climate Leaders, Cassia Moraes MPA-DP ’15 is working to build the next generation of climate leaders through a unique around the world experience. Participants learn about climate change in theory, understand it in practice and work on hands-on projects with other young people, ultimately building a community of climate champions.

While at SIPA, she became interested in entrepreneurship and took classes to further that interest. She worked with an international NGO after SIPA, but it was only when she was actively looking for jobs again that she decided to launch her own organization: the Youth Climate Leaders (YCL). SIPA not only provided her a great education but a network that she still relies on at YCL.

As Cassia puts it: “SIPA is one of the best schools in the world which is empowering. You are so privileged to have this experience and, because of it, it is your duty to give back to the world what you learned.”

Learn more about this and other organizations fostered and founded by our Development Practice students here.

Learn more about the MPA-DP Program:

Categories : Meet Seeples
Tags : , ,

UNANY Summer Scholars 2019 Winners

Posted by Columbia SIPA 
· Thursday, November 7th, 2019 

Our second-year MPA-DP ’20 students Fatène Ben-Hamza and Emily Boytinck were invited to the annual 2019 UN Day Humanitarian Awards Gala Dinner. The event commemorating the work of the United Nations has also became an elegant celebration of the work of our UNANY  Summer Scholars 2019 Winners.

Fatène Ben-Hamza spent her summer working at the UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Office in the ADAP section (adolescent development and participation) in Amman, Jordan. During summer she focused on developing materials for improving the engagement of young people in humanitarian settings, an analysis of young people participation in social movements and finally on building a case for participatory budgeting in Jordan.

Emily Boytinck, had her summer placement at UNFPA country office in Dakar, Senegal. Under the authority of the Representative and the direct supervision of the Reproductive Health Program Officer, Emily worked with the reproductive health team to advance Senegal’s country program. As a UNANY Summer Scholar, she collaborated with office staff and national partners, and contributed to data collection, analysis and produce reports related to reproductive health (RH) with a focus on the topics of adolescent sexual and reproductive health and menstrual health in emergencies.

Emily’s and Fatène’s achievements while working in country offices located in Jordan and Senegal immeasurably added to a deeper appreciation of what UNFPA and UNICEF do towards a more just and sustainable future.

Learn more about the MPA-DP Program:

Categories : Meet Seeples, Student Life
Tags : , , ,

Professor Glenn Denning, MPA-DP Program Director, giving the keynote address for the One World Festival

Posted by Emily Tao 
· Wednesday, October 30th, 2019 

Last week Professor Glenn Denning, our MPA-DP Program Director led a public talk at #OneWorldFestival event at Queen’s University, Belfast. Professor Denning discussed how the world can build a sustainable food supply system in a time when an ever-increasing population is to reach 10 billion by 2050.

As he put it: “It’s not rocket science – we have all the knowledge we need. What we need to do is invest pro-actively and strategically or we face the catastrophe of famine and extreme environmental degradation we have all been warned about.”

Read more on what Professor Denning shared before the audience of the event here.

Learn more about the MPA-DP Program. Follow us on:

Categories : News
Tags : ,

MIT D-Lab: Summer Fellows will support D-Lab’s efforts to measure the impact of its work around the world.

Posted by Columbia SIPA 
· Friday, July 12th, 2019 

From MIT D-Lab: Three summer monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) fellows from SIPA – Fatema Alhashemi MPA-DP ’20, Iris Lau Castro MPA-DP ‘20, and Taylor Light MPA-DP ’20 – will support MIT D-Lab’s efforts to measure the impact of its work around the world.

In addition to conducting evaluations of D-Lab’s programs, the MEL Fellows will also work with D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellows and D-Lab Innovation Ecosystem Builder Fellows to help these partners to improve their own impact measurement systems. Fatema, Iris, and Taylor are students in the MPA in Development Practice program at Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs.

Fatema Alhashemi – Laâyoune Learning Center (Laâyoune) and Kyusa (Kampala, Uganda) — Fatema will travel to Laâyoune to assess the long-term effects of 2018 PIA Co-Design Summit on the participants, their institutions, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. She will also evaluate the Laâyoune Learning Center’s three-month entrepreneurship training pilot, capturing data on participants’ learning and feedback on the new curriculum. Finally, she travel to Kampala, Uganda to work with D-Lab Innovation Ecosystem Builder Fellow organization Kyusa Uganda to strengthen their team’s capacity in data analysis and data visualization.

Iris Lau Castro – EcoAct (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) — Iris will travel to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to work with D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellow venture EcoAct-Tanzania to help them measure the venture’s impact. In particular, she will help them develop an approach to measure the impact of their waste collection system as well as the medical insurance they provide to waste pickers. Iris will also lead this year’s annual survey of D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellows, tracking the long-term trajectory of alumni and their ventures.

Taylor Light – Ongoza (Nairobi, Kenya) — Taylor will travel to Nairobi, Kenya to work with D-Lab Innovation Ecosystem Builder Fellow organization Ongoza to refine their theory of change, design data collection instruments, and help them use their data to drive strategy discussions. Taylor will also lead the development of a theory of change and survey instruments for D-Lab’s innovation ecosystem convenings, mapping out an M&E framework for D-Lab’s newest strategy to catalyze entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Categories : Meet Seeples, Student Life
Tags : ,
Next Page »

"The most global public policy school, where an international community of students and faculty address world challenges."

—Merit E. Janow, Dean, SIPA, Professor of Practice, International and Economic Law and International Affairs

Boiler Image