Student Profiles

Ateequllah Nosher

"Throughout my life I've been accustomed to the narrative of division – by borders, by ideas, by religions and by politics. At HKS I've come to learn that our similarities and shared concerns far outweigh our differences. Every morning in the MPA/ID you meet the world: as much as I am learning about development and economics, I am learning about countries, cultures and communities."

Ateeq is a current second year student in the MPA/ID program and a World Bank Scholar. Prior to joining the program in Fall 2008, Ateeq was a Senior Fiscal Policy Analyst in the Ministry of Finance in Afghanistan. Ateeq spent his summer internship working for the World Bank in Afghanistan on designing and implementing a survey for beneficiaries of Afghanistan's Public Pension system.

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Sara Nadel

“I chose the MPA/ID with the goal of building a strong knowledge base about the economic fundamentals of growth, poverty, and international development while also strengthening my leadership and diplomacy skills. The rigorous applied economics are key to fully understanding the complexity of development; this unique curriculum cannot be found in any other academic program.

Prospective MPA/ID students should be prepared to work hard in their first year, and to be rewarded for that work in the second year, when we use our new skills in more applied classes and writing our Second-Year Policy Analysis.”

Sara came to the MPA/ID program with four years of experience in various non-profit organizations in Uganda, the Gambia, Kenya and Peru. Immediately prior to enrolling, Sara served as the Country Director in Peru for Innovations for Poverty Action. Sara is a first year doctoral student in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School.

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Jaime de Aguinaga Garcia

“One of the main assets of this program is the warm community that is promoted, where professors are truly engaged in the learning process and students support each other. If we want to be leaders in international public action, we must be able to work efficiently in a multicultural and multidisciplinary environment. Thus, team work is very encouraged and social activities are promoted in order to strengthen the identity of the group and create this big family.”

Jaime is a current second year MPA/ID student. Before beginning his studies at HKS, Jaime worked in Tanzania with Engineers without Borders for two years, and then in Afghanistan with the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation to Development (AECID) through TRAGSA, a Public Spanish development company. This past summer, Jaime worked for the World Bank on a national water development program for Malawi.

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Peter Ajak

“I picked the MPA/ID program because I was convinced that it would give me the skills I needed to become an informed development practitioner. Not only did I learn critical techniques to think about problems, but I also learned how to strategically chart policy solutions that accommodate the existing political and administrative constraints.

As a result of this learning experience, I am now confident in my abilities to effectively contribute to solving the development challenges we currently face.”

Part of the generation of “lost boys” of Sudan, Peter was actively engaged in the Sudanese expatriate community. Before enrolling in the MPA/ID program, Peter interned at the Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning in the Government of Southern Sudan. After graduation in June 2009, Peter returned to his home country and now serves as the advisor to the Minister of SPLA Affairs in Southern Sudan's Ministry of Defense.

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Carolina Camacho

“I chose the MPA/ID program because it combines the rigorous training needed to analyze complex problems on real world policy issues. During my first year, I was amazed by how the core classes were carefully inter-related, and by how soon we started to apply the theory to specific cases.

The MPA/ID has been an incredible educational experience for me. I have met inspiring people, acquired new ways to approach problems and gained skills that will enable me to become an effective leader and help to make a difference in people’s lives.”

Carolina came to the MPA/ID program after two years in Colombia’s Ministry of Agriculture, where she was promoted from Economic Advisor to Director of National Agricultural policies. She also worked as a Junior Economist at the Latin American Reserves Fund. Carolina is currently a researcher at Fedesarollo, an economic think tank in Bogota, Colombia.

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