January 2013

International Development Studies Program Celebrates 20 Years

Two decades after the International Development Studies (IDS) graduate program was introduced at the Elliott School, the program enjoys ever greater success and relevance in the international affairs community.

"The IDS program began as a small program with an entering class of about a dozen students," said IDS Program Director Sean Roberts. "The program now has an average entering class of about forty students. One of the program's key components, capstone projects [field-based research projects undertaken by IDS students in their final semester], involve doing substantial field-based work for well-respected development organizations, including the World Bank, USAID, and UNHCR."

The IDS curriculum is a two-year, full-time program that exposes students to the theoretical underpinnings of international development and the real-world issues that they will face as professionals in the field. According to Professor Roberts, international development has shifted its approach from relying on outside experts offering solutions to empowering local people to solve critical issues that affect their well-being, on their own, and IDS has sought to stress this new focus with its students. IDS faculty come from a wide range of backgrounds — including anthropology and geography — though all focus on project-level fieldwork; the training and experiences that IDS faculty have amassed over their careers is passed along to students and provides students with unique viewpoints on the issues facing development professionals.

IDS students also have the opportunity to learn from each other. Many come to the Elliott School from a development background, and students build strong relationships over the course of their studies while interacting in the program's core classes as well as through the Organization for International Development (OID), a graduate student organization that is part of the IDS program. Since students in the IDS program have the opportunity to take classes throughout GW, they can tailor their field of study to fit their desired career path; this array of perspectives and knowledge provides students with a well-rounded sense of the development field.

"IDS helped me launch a career in international development in multiple ways due to the network access it provides," said IDS alumna Erica Buckingham (M.A. '12). "Between notices of job opportunities on IDS' Facebook page, email listservs about relevant upcoming events, and getting to know fellow students and professors, I really feel part of the development community in DC. It has been extremely beneficial to be part of a close-knit network of like-minded people to help secure a job and be able to talk to informally about the culture working at various organizations."

Professor Roberts says that the academic versatility and cohort collaboration are strengths of the program.

"I believe that the program will continue to adapt to the changing nature of international development by encouraging students to think critically and across disciplines about the field and their desired career path within it."

» 2012 International Development Studies First Annual Capstone Report

2012 IDS Capstone Projects

Report Title	Project Sponsor	Student Participants
Participatory Learning and Action Toolkit: For Application in BSR's Global Programs » Download report	BSR	Katie Appel, Erica Buckingham, Krista Jodoin, and Danielle Roth
iPods and Outcomes: Process Evaluation of The Hunger Project's Outcome Evaluation Pilot Project in Ghana » Download report	The Hunger Project	Anna Bezrukov, Thomas Blackburn, Brian Dockstader, and Clare Kelley
Striving for Respect: Male Youths' Transition to Adulthood — Case Studies from Nepal and Sri Lanka » Download report	The World Bank South Asia Social Development Unit	Alexandra Burrall, Jodi Chan, Leilani Greene, and Kristen Tymeson
International Corporate Volunteerism: Measuring Value » Download report	CDC Development Solutions	Annick Ducher, Cara Hayes, Noel Shadowen, and Jessi Wolz
Global Indicators: Measuring Governance & Peacebuilding » Download report	Pact	Travis Mayo, Michael Schwille, Jennifer Westervelt, and Besian Xhezo
Experts in their Field: What Community Based Organizations Know About Preventing VAW in Emergencies » Download report	The GBV Prevention Network, The International Rescue Committee	Nathalie Cornet, Katherine Dillon, Jennifer VanWinkle, and Lauren Yamagata