Specializations

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE AND DEVELOPMENT GRADUATE FELLOWS PROGRAM

Georgetown University’s Global Social Enterprise and Development Fellows Program, a collaboration between the Global Human Development program of the School of Foreign Service (GHD/SFS) and the McDonough School of Business (MSB), is designed to give students a thorough understanding of the role of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship in promoting sustainable development and to prepare them to become leaders and change-agents in a rapidly changing world. 

The Global Social Enterprise and Development Fellows Program seeks to develop students’ entrepreneurial skillsets and mindsets through both coursework and experiential learning. The innovative, hands-on curriculum includes skills-based courses, participation in an Innovation Lab, a teamwork-focused client engagement project, and access to a network of entrepreneurial mentors and peers. Graduates of this fellows program will gain a deeper understanding of their entrepreneurial aptitude while being prepared to develop, critique and lead new business strategies in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.  They also will gain skill to assess business proposals for viability and impact as a potential donor or investor. 

Sample Courses:

GHDP 511 Social Enterprise and Human Development

GHDP 521 Small and Medium Enterprise Development

GHDP 508 Innovation in Action

GHDP 514 Food, Agriculture & Rural Livelihoods

MSFS 544 Information Technologies – Innovation and Society

MSFS-658 Introduction to Microfinance

MSFS 514 Public-Private Partnerships

MSFS 518 Investment in Emerging Markets

MSFS 599 Science, Technology and Development               

MSFS 561 Business Opportunities in Emerging Markets

MSFS 581 Corporate Responsibility in the 21st Century

PPOL-531 Nonprofit & NGO Management

PPOL 535 Public Policy, Advocacy and Social Change

PPOL 739 Social Innovation

INAF 528 Global Risks & Investment in Emerging Markets

FINC 569 Impact Investing

BADM 590 Principled Leadership in Business and Society

MGMT 611 Leadership and Management of Nonprofit Organizations

MGMT 679 Imagination and Creativity

MARK 579 Social Media

MARK 606 Social Marketing

MARK 616 Marketing/Global Social Change

CCTP-505 Introduction to Communication, Culture and Technology

CCTP 754 Networks and International Development

CCTP 807 Innovation, Design and Usability

CCTP-665 Infrastructure Studies: Knowledge, Distribution and Power

CCTP-706 New Media: Innovation, Community, and Dissidence

CCTP-709 Intellectual Property (Who Owns Ideas?)

CCTP-726 Knowledge and Power: Cultures of Expertise

CCTP-742 Network Technologies and Society

STRT 580 Understanding Entrepreneurship

STRT 610 Corporate Social Responsibility

STRT 677 Implementing the Entrepreneurial Plan

STRT 595 Multinational Innovation

STRT 596 Developing the Concept

 

PUBLIC SECTOR

What do good governance, capable institutions, and sustainable economic growth all have in common? Good governance and accountability are critical to growth, and to effective services and core functions of government. Good governance is about the institutions and incentives that drive public behavior and public sector management, and is the interface with the private sector through service delivery, and regulations that promote private sector activity, including the rule of law and control of corruption. This concentration will introduce students to the range of roles that the public sector plays, ways of measuring public performance, and the effectiveness of policies and programs across countries and regions. Students will explore reforms across settings and contexts, where efforts have succeeded and why, and the tools to raise public performance. Students working in this area will have a deep appreciation of the sources and uses of public finance (including the public budgeting process), and the innovations and challenges that are reshaping the public sector. They will also understand the toll that corruption takes on development and approaches that have been tried to minimize abuse.

Sample Courses:

GHDP 512 Governance and Service Delivery: Health, Education & Reform

MSFS 521 Public Finance: The Impact of Budget Policies & Processes

MSFS-657 Good Governance and Capable States

PPOL 504 Public Finance for Development

PPOL 729-10 Public & Private Service Delivery & Partnerships

PPOL 733-10 Comparative Economic Systems

PPOL 799 Infrastructure Economics

LASP Comparative Democratization

GOVT 550 Democratic Change: Policy/Practice/Politics

GOVT-541 Research Methods in Democracy & Development

REES-610 Building Capitalism: Post-Communist Transition

GOVT 564 Comparative Democratization

 

GLOBAL HEALTH

The last several decades have witnessed tremendous progress in basic human health globally. With a few exceptions, life expectancy is rising, infant and child mortality is falling, and a growing number of communicable diseases are now being controlled, if not eliminated. At the same time, in virtually every country in the world, there are pockets of poor health that have remained out of reach of national programs. Further, there are a host of new health challenges, including the chronic diseases of aging populations, drug resistance, mal-distribution of health personnel globally and uncontrolled health care costs.

The concentration in Global Health is designed to give students a broad understanding of the determinants and global distribution of health by drawing upon both medicine and social science, including demography, economics, epidemiology, politics and sociology. Students will gain a basic understanding of the pathology of major diseases, and how these diseases are prevented, diagnosed and treated. They will also gain an understanding of cost-effectiveness analysis and cost-benefit approaches to health services; individual, cultural and behavioral considerations in the use of health services; the global labor market for health personnel; and an appreciation of the burden of disease and distribution of health services among distinct populations.

Sample Courses:

GHDP 518/GLOH 518 Health Economics & Financing

GLOH 520 Health Policy and Systems

GLOH 503 Epidemiology Research Methods

GHDP 524 Social Exclusion: Race, Gender and Ethnicity

BIST 506 Biostatistics

MSFS 609 Development and Demography in Asia

MSFS-609  Development and Demography in Asia

MSFS 615 Health, Governance & Diplomacy (Spring)

PPOL 782 Global Health Policy and Institutions

HESY-650  Epidemiology and Population Health

LL.M Course 493  Global Health Law

J.D. Seminar 594  Global Health Law: An Intensive, Problem-Based Exploration

LL.M Seminar 183  Health and Human Rights

 

EDUCATION AND HUMAN CAPITAL

The explosive growth of the youth segment of the world’s population has only increased the importance of having a robust national education system that can offer equitable and affordable educational opportunity for all youth.  While the vast majority of the world’s children are now enroll in school, 93 million, the majority of whom are girls, and almost 80 per cent of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, are not in school.  Only 60 percent of children enroll in secondary school and over half of those drop out before completion.   The reach and quality of educational opportunities (public, private and informal) have a direct impact on fertility patterns, the education of the next generation, employment prospects and pressures to migrate, and more, making education one of the most critical areas for development policies and programming.

This concentration will give students a deep understanding of the current status and likely future trends in education systems (from early childhood through universities) in poor and middle income countries.  Students will explore the burgeoning literature on the impact of policies and programs on changes in access to schooling, relevance and quality of schooling and student achievement. It will build understanding of the complex challenges facing countries seeking to allocate sufficient human and financial resources to meet the demands of parents and youth.  Students will become familiar with and develop expertise in different components of the educational system (policy, curriculum, teacher training and evaluation) as well as the broader role of education in current innovations in communications and social media as well as the rapidly changing job market.   Students in this concentration will be prepared to design, manage and evaluate education programs as well as design, advocate and critique a range of education policies.

Sample Courses:

GHDP 516 Education & Development

GHDP 512 Governance and Service Delivery: Health, Education & Reform

GHDP 523 Education Policy Reforms

GHDP 524 Social Exclusion: Race, Gender and Ethnicity

MSFS 609 Development and Demography in Asia

INAF-648 International Migration and Development

CCTP-813 Technology, Culture and Development

MAAS 611 Knowledge/Power/Politics: Education in MENA

MAAS 641 Gender/ Labor/ Development in the Middle East

 

FOOD, AGRICULTURE AND RURAL LIVELIHOODS

Notwithstanding the fact that the world is becoming increasingly urban, the majority of the world’s poor still live in rural areas and access to food at a reasonable cost profoundly impacts the lives and opportunities of the poor in low and even middle income countries. Agriculture remains a key driver of economic growth in a large number of developing countries. In addition, addressing food scarcity and famines to minimize the likelihood of recurrence has become an important challenge to development practitioners in the 21st century.

This concentration will give students a deep appreciation of the range of social, economic and political challenges faced by rural communities in developing economies and the opportunities that exist for rural economies to be a stimulus to national economic growth, provide food for the urban population and even lead to exportable food surplus. Beyond growth, improved nutrition and health, education, infrastructure development and non-farm job creation can all leading to better livelihoods. Students will also gain an appreciation of the role that food production, trade and food aid has played in addressing food insecurity, and the new technologies and approaches that offer the promise of mitigating food scarcity in the future. The roles of local and international actors in this process - public, private and non-governmental entities – will also be discussed.

Sample Courses:

GHDP 515 Green Growth, Climate Change & Development

GHDP 514 Food, Agriculture & Rural Livelihoods

GHDP 521 Small & Medium Enterprise

MSFS-658 Introduction to Microfinance

GOVT 583 Food Security and Conflict Resolution

 

ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE

One of the most pressing development challenges of the 21st century is managing and adapting to changes in climate and addressing a range of natural resource constraints – be they water, land, energy or even clean air. While change is inevitable, the pace and direction of our changing environment are profoundly affected by actions and policies pursued over the next 10 to 20 years. Sustainable management of land, forests, and watersheds, for example, often hinges on shared public-private governance with effective institutions, laws, policies and practices in place. Both the environment and civil society benefit when governments and local communities can agree to and enforce their respective rights and responsibilities regarding the use and allocation of forests, fisheries, minerals and other natural resources. Policy and field-level challenges across developing countries abound, however, as demographic pressure and urban/rural dynamics, competing local and global business interests, unclear tenure and property rights, climate change and other factors impact efforts to combine natural resources management (NRM) and governance.

Students working in this area will acquire a deep understanding of the range of environmental challenges the world now faces, and some of the trade-offs that programs and policy-makers must make. They will gain a better understanding of the scientific underpinnings of natural resource management, climate change and climate mitigation strategies, and they will develop a deeper appreciation for strategies that have worked to mitigate environmental challenges and achieved a measure of sustainability.

Sample Courses:

GHDP 515 Green Growth, Climate Change & Development

MSFS 681 Oil & World Power

MSFS-640 Energy in a Low-Carbon World

MSFS 549 Petroleum in the Global Economy

MSFS-558 The Political Economy of Global Climate Change

PPOL 569 Energy, Society & Politics in Developing Countries

PPOL 609 Environmental Inequality: US and International Dimensions

PPOL 674 Natural Resources Policy

PPOL 726 Environmental Politics and Policy

PPOL 731 Economics of Oil

MAAS 568 Critical Environmental Studies of Contemporary MENA

LASP 521 Energy Security: Western Hemisphere

GOVT 597 Environment and Conflict Resolution

INAF 542 Economy of Energy and Oil

INAF 733 Trans Enviro/UN Climate Change

SEST-594 Energy and Security

 

There is also a variety of course offerings related to gender, humanitarian assistance, conflict, quantitative methods, and regional specializations. Please email ghdinfo@georgetown.edu for more information about courses.

Certificates Through Other Georgetown University Programs
Per certificate requirements. Courses taken for a certificate would take the place of elective courses.

• Refugees and Emergencies Certificate
• International Business Diplomacy Honors Certificate
• Arab Studies Certificate
• Asian Studies Certificate
• Eurasian, Russian, and Eastern European Studies Certificate