Dear EPD students,

Congratulations on completing the school year in such a challenging environment. We know this year and especially the last few weeks have been difficult for many of you. But you showed remarkable resilience, and we commend you for all you’ve accomplished, and for supporting each other along the way.

In particular, we’d like to congratulate a number of students who have received awards announced at the SIPA graduation on Monday, including one of our EPD workshop teams.  The team working with Oxfam Indonesia on “Caring for the Elderly: Addressing Unpaid Care Work in Indonesia” (Linh Anh Cook, Isabella A. Lee Oyarce, Manasi Pant, Bayu Ramadhan Putra, Stefanny Villamizar, and Samantha Zalewska, advised by Prof. Maxine Weisgrau) received the Dr. Susan Aurelia Gitelson Award for Human Values in International Affairs.  We also congratulate EPD student Medina Esfandiari, who was a member of the Roland Berger capstone team that won the Leous-Parry Award for Progressive Sustainability. A number of other EPD workshop teams applied for the various capstone awards, and we want to acknowledge their impressive work as well.  

In addition, we’d like to commend Alice Lassman for winning the Raphael Smith Memorial Prize for travel writing, for her essay “In words I can understand” and "Deris" Nagara for winning the Campbell Award presented to a graduating student at each Columbia school who has shown exceptional leadership and Columbia spirit.

Finally, we'd like to congratulate Orcun Dogmazer for being selected the Class Speaker and delivering a truly memorable speech!  

To our graduating students, we were excited to celebrate with you at graduation on Monday – we really enjoyed working with you over the past two years, and look forward to following your many professional accomplishments in the years ahead. We wish you all the best in your next chapters, and hope you’ll stay in touch as our newest EPD alumni!

To our continuing students, we hope you all have restful and rewarding summers, and look forward to seeing you back at SIPA in the fall.  We also really welcome your input on possible clients and projects for next year’s EPD capstone workshop (more on this below). 

We’d like to extend special thanks to this year’s EPD program assistants, Paras Abbasi and Orcun Dogmazer, for all of their help in organizing events, communicating with and supporting EPD students, and contributing in so many other ways to our team and to the EPD and SIPA communities. We’d also like to welcome our new EPD program assistants, Semon Makar Zekry and Talia Rosenberg, and look forward to working with them starting this fall.

The EPD team will continue to support you through the coming summer. We'll be available for remote office hours (see below), and will send updates, including on new fall courses, later in the summer.

Again, congratulations on all you’ve accomplished this year. We hope you get some well-deserved rest and relaxation, and look forward to staying in touch.

Warm wishes,
José Antonio, Jenny and Ilona 

This week’s newsletter includes: 

• EPD Graduation Gift Pick-up
• Workshop Input from First-Year Students
• Recordings: EPD Workshop Final Presentations
• IO/UN Internship Preparation (5/29)
• Summer Office Hours

EPD Graduation Gift Pick-up
This is a reminder that graduating EPDers can come to Ancell Plaza today, May 14th between 10-11:30am to pick up a gift! Jenny and Paras will be stationed by the stairs at the SIPA entrance on Ancel Plaza (6th floor). 

Workshop Input from First-Year Students
Thanks to all the first-year students who completed our short workshop survey. This will help us gauge your interests in particular regions, topics and organizations as we start developing workshop projects for 2024-25. Also feel free to email Jenny McGill (em419) or Ilona Vinklerova (iv2105) with any suggestions of potential workshop clients or projects. If you’d like to share information on the workshop with a potential client organization, here is a short background note and the program from this year’s final workshop presentations. 

Recordings: EPD Workshop Final Presentations

Impact Investing with a Gender Lens: Pilot Studies in Cambodia and Uzbekistan
Enabling Qapital

Strengthening Trust through Behavioral Insights to Foster Citizen Participation in Colombia
Fundacion Corona

Identifying New Opportunities for a Bike Rental Social Enterprise in Tanzania
globalbike, inc.

Assisting ITC in Developing a Moonshot Strategy to Support Indigenous Enterprises in Trade
International Trade Centre

Enhancing Kazakhstan's Role as a Regional Hub for University Education
Kazakhstan's Ministry of Science and Higher Education

Strategic Recommendations for ODC on the Role of Open Data in Cambodia's New Pentagonal Strategy
Open Development Cambodia

Addressing Unpaid Care Work in Indonesia: Gaps and Recommendations
Oxfam Indonesia

Strengthening Leadership Skills of Head Teachers in Elementary Schools in Ghana
Pencils of Promise

Strengthening RSSB's Catalytic Role in Crowding in Private Sector Investment in Rwanda
Rwanda Social Security Board

Encouraging Long-Term Savings by Informal Sector Workers in Rwanda
Rwanda Social Security Board

Exploring Options for Climate-Resilient Microfinance in Upper Egypt
Sawiris Foundation for Social Development

Enhancing Results-Based Management: The Transformative Potential of Artificial Intelligence
United Nations Development Programme

Global South Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Other Technologies
United Nations Development Programme's Accelerator Labs Network

Voluntary Exits from Non-State Armed Groups: Case Studies and Good Practices
United Nations Department of Peace Operations

Advancing Mongolia's Transition to Renewable Energy through Sustainable Business Cases to Support Mongolia's Achievement of the SDGs
United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office in Mongolia

Innovative Training Approaches for New Parliamentarians in Pakistan
United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office, UNDP and UN Women in Pakistan

Expanding VfW's Online Gender-Smart Nexus Platform
Value for Women

Scaling Artificial Intelligence for Agricultural Innovations (Ai4AI) through Public-Private Partnerships in India
World Economic Forum's Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Climate-Smart Technonologies to Improve Food Security for Smallholder Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa
World Food Programme's Regional Centre for Excellence Against Hunger and Malnutrition

IO & UN Internship Preparation
When/Time: Wednesday, May 29, 2024 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Where: Virtual
Dress Code: Casual
Work Authorization Requirement: All Work Authorizations Accepted

As many of you are preparing for summer internships at international organizations, IO/UNS director, Professor Daniel Naujoks offers a platform to exchange on pointers on what to focus on. Regardless if you are doing a classic in-person or a remote internship, the meeting provides a space to share tips and insights and ask questions for all participants.

Join us on May 29, 10-11am ET for a discussion that will focus on your key goals and touch on what skills should you aim to build. How to use internships as a platform for robust networking? How should you influence the assignments you get? What do consider for virtual internships?

For more information, CLICK HERE