IDC Workshops are geared towards specific skill building sessions for participants. Each workshop is lead by senior practitioners who will share their first hand knowledge of "how to get things done" in the development context. These workshops are typically longer than panels and can run between 2-3 hours each. In order to promote more active discussion, classes are limited in size. Registered participants interested in attending a workshop should RSVP to Tara_Azimi@ksg09.harvard.edu by Friday, April 4, 2008.

Workshop I: SELECTING APPROPRIATE MICROFINANCE INSTITUTION MODELS (MFIs)

Microfinance has become a mainstream tool in global development practice. Indeed, many efforts are currently underway to use microfinance techniques to empower the poor in a sustainable and inclusive manner. The success of a given microfinance project, however, depends largely on the suitability of the programmatic approach with respect to the given context. This workshop will provide participants the opportunity to discuss existing microfinance models and their relative merits in different contexts. Through a hands-on role-playing activity, students will explore strategic considerations in designing a microfinance program and learn about models that link microfinance to traditional development sectors.

  • Workshop Leader: Kimberley Wilson, Lecturer, Fletcher School, Tufts University
    biography

Workshop II: COOPERATIVES: A DEMOCRATIC APPROACH TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Cooperatives are democratic forms of business that are owned and controlled by the people who work, produce or consume its services. Cooperative businesses have the dual benefit of anchoring economic growth and development to a geographic region, while amplifying democracy and citizen participation. This workshop explores the application of cooperative principles and the promotion of the cooperative business model as a tool for building wealth and economic power among low-income populations.

  • Workshop Leader: John Dunn, Director of National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA), Cooperative League of the USA (CLUSA)
    biography

Workshop III: EXPLORING HOW FILM AND MEDIA ADVANCE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This workshop will engage participants in exploring the interaction between development and communications, particularly through films and media. Participants will be introduced to basic skills and tools required for video documentation of individual development work. The workshop will also contain an interactive session where filmmakers will share their experiences in bringing out development issues through the media and acquire basic training on how to become a "development filmmaker".

Workshop Leaders:

  • Charles Mann: Founder of DevCom Workshop
    biography
  • Franco Sacchi: Artist in Residence at Boston University's Center for Digital Imaging Arts
    biography
  • Sam Gregory: Program Manager, Witness
    biography

Workshop IV: PRACTICALITIES OF CRAFTING A PERFORMANCE BUDGET IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY SETTING

Performance management is popular in many industrialized countries. Management reforms in developing countries tend to converge on such popular practices, and indeed many developing countries are introducing performance into their government systems. This session takes the form of a simulation, whereby groups will confront practicalities of developing performance budgets in developing countries. The session is designed to highlight information needs for these kinds of initiatives, the assumptions such initiatives imply about how organizations are structured, and also the socio-political conditions necessary for making performance management work. The session is applied and light-hearted, but with (hopefully) serious messages about the need for realism in recommending certain reforms to countries.

  • Workshop Leader: Matt Andrews, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
    biography
 


Sponsored by the Kennedy School of Government, MIT,
Carnegie Mellon University, and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Photographs sponsored by Amy Vitale