CID Student Seminars

CID Student Seminars will take place over the course of four in-person 75-minute sessions spread throughout the semester. Each session will have pre-readings of approximately 30-60 minutes to inform and spark discussion between students and speakers.

Communicating in Catastrophic Times: International development and public health communications, 2020–Present with Gabriella Stern, CID Research Fellow (co-sponsored by the Shorenstein Center and the Harvard Global Health Initiative)

The period from 2020 to the present has seen unprecedented disruptions in global public health and international development, and across the field of communications. This course examines the pivotal role communications has played throughout this period amid a series of crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, tech and media disruption, geopolitical instability and conflict, and cuts to foreign assistance, health funding and research. This class will be interactive, utilizing role-playing and case studies rooted in the 2020-2026 experience, as well as practical skill-building to prepare students for principled, high-impact, communications-informed leadership in whatever career or field they pursue.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Strategic Centrality: Understand why communications is a core driver of high-impact objectives and outcomes.
• Institutional Frameworks: Analyze the function of communications within public and private sector institutions.
• Applied Skills: Cultivate practical expertise in communications, including messaging, media relations, crisis response and content creation.
• Modernization: Consider ways to renew, update and equip the field of communications to meet future needs.

Crisis and Reform in Practice: Indonesia’s Experience and Lessons from Emerging Markets, facilitated by Muhamad Chatib Basri, CID Visiting Scholar

Managing economic crises and reform is never just a technical exercise. While economic theory can explain why change is needed, it rarely shows how to get it done, especially when politics, vested interests, and weak institutions stand in the way. Many well-designed policies fail not because they are flawed, but because they do not align with the political or bureaucratic context. You can’t run a “Star Wars” strategy through a “Jurassic Park” institution.

This seminar explores how governments actually manage economic crises and reform, focusing on the intersection of policy, politics, and institutions. Grounded in Indonesia’s experience over five decades, from crisis to recovery to reform, it examines what works in real-world policymaking and why. As Southeast Asia’s largest economy and a G20 member, Indonesia provides a compelling case study of how to implement reform in a dynamic, democratic, and often unpredictable setting.

But this course is not just about Indonesia. It is about how reform gets done in emerging markets more broadly. Students will explore transferable lessons on navigating political constraints, building coalitions, and adapting strategies to institutional realities. Alongside case-based discussions, the seminar includes interactive exercises and practitioner insights, offering a behind-the-scenes perspective on policy decisions and trade-offs.

By the end of the seminar, students will be equipped to bridge the gap between sound economic ideas and viable policy solutions. They will learn not only from Indonesia’s successes, but also from its setbacks—gaining a deeper understanding of how political constraints, institutional weaknesses, and shifting coalitions shape what is possible in reform.

Please note that this seminar will discuss a different set of case studies from those discussed in the fall, including managing the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, the political economy of trade protection, and strategies for generating tax revenue under political constraints, among others.

Impact Investment in Emerging and Developing Markets - Investment Decision making and case studies from Development Finance Institutions with Nick O’Donohoe, M-RCBG Senior Fellow (co-sponsored by M-RCBG)

This seminar series offers a practical, in depth exploration of how impact investments are made in Emerging and Developing Economies (EMDEs) seen through the lens of Multilateral Development Banks and Development Finance Institutions.

The world faces enormous challenges both in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving the targets of the Paris climate agreement. Impact Investment plays a key role in providing the funding needed to address these challenges. In EMDEs Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs and DFIs) are indispensable actors, often serving as the key providers of capital and de-risking agents in countries and sectors where commercial capital is scarce or non-existent. All of their investments are made with both a financial and development objective. This seminar series will look at impact investment through the eyes of these institutions and participants will learn to better understand the decisions they make and the trade offs they face when investing in and catalyzing private development impact investments in these countries.

The intent of the seminar is to move beyond high-level policy discussions to provide practical and hands-on insights into the transactional reality of development focused financing. It will introduce development impact frameworks and measurement and the toolkit available to DFIs to implement their mandates. It will employ specific case studies so that students leave the course with an understanding of the development finance ecosystem and a practical appreciation for how actual transactional decisions are made. It will conclude with a mock investment committee where participants will be expected to present and challenge a real investment case.

Youthquake: Africa’s Jobless Generation — A Geopolitical Ticking Bomb, facilitated by Gomez Agou, CID Senior Fellow (co-sponsored by the Center for African Studies) 

Africa’s youth unemployment crisis has moved beyond economics to become a major political and geopolitical challenge. From the Arab Spring to recent coups, protests, and rising migration pressures, persistent joblessness among young people is reshaping political legitimacy, state–society relations, and Africa’s engagement with the global system.

This seminar will examine the root causes of youth unemployment and underemployment in Africa, why many well-intended policy solutions have failed, and how unemployment fuels political instability, regime change, migration, and growing skepticism toward Western and multilateral economic models. Drawing on economics, political economy, and development practice, participants will explore existing and innovative approaches to job creation in a rapidly growing and youthful continent.

The seminar is open to students interested in African development, political economy, global governance, and the future of work, and will emphasize discussion, policy analysis, and applied thinking.

Communicating in Catastrophic Times: International development and public health communications, 2020–Present, facilitated by Gabriella Stern, CID Research Fellow

• Dates: Tuesdays: March 3, March 10, March 24, March 31
• Time: 4:30pm - 5:45pm ET
• Location: Harvard Kennedy School, Rubenstein 429 – Perkins Conference Room
• Office hours: TBD

Crisis and Reform in Practice: Indonesia’s Experience and Lessons from Emerging Markets, facilitated by Muhamad  Chatib Basri, CID Visiting Scholar

• Dates: Wednesdays: April 8, April 15, April 22, April 29
• Time: 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm ET; lunch will be served
• Location: Harvard Kennedy School, Rubenstein 429 – Perkins Conference Room
• Office hours: Requested via email

Impact Investment in Emerging and Developing Markets - Investment Decision making and case studies from Development Finance Institutions, facilitated by Nick O’Donohoe, M-RCBG Senior Fellow

• Dates: Tuesdays: March 31, April 7, April 14, April 21
• Time: 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm ET; lunch will be served
• Location: Harvard Kennedy School, Rubenstein 429 – Perkins Conference Room
• Office hours: https://calendly.com/nickodonohoe 

Youthquake: Africa’s Jobless Generation — A Geopolitical Ticking Bomb, facilitated by Gomez Agou, CID Senior Fellow

• Dates: Thursdays: March 5, March 12, March 26, April 2
• Time: 4:30pm - 5:45pm ET
• Location: Harvard Kennedy School, Rubenstein 429 – Perkins Conference Room
• Office hours: Available by appointment. Participants are encouraged to reach out via email to arrange a time for mentorship on reflection memos, diagnostics, or strategy briefs or any other subject of interest on politics, policies, and career development.

Seminar participants are expected to commit to attending all seminar sessions and engaging as much as possible with the reading and content. All sessions are in-person. Each seminar can accommodate up to approximately 30 participants. Final seminar size will be determined based on applications received. The seminars are non-credit courses, no grades or assignments.

These seminars are open to undergraduate and graduate students across all schools at Harvard who are interested in international development. Students need not be experts on a seminar’s given topic, but they should be able to demonstrate interest in applying what they learn to positively influence their work.

Applications have closed for Communicating in Catastrophic Times: International development and public health communications, 2020–Present. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Click here to access the application for Crisis and Reform in Practice: Indonesia’s Experience and Lessons from Emerging Markets. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Applications have closed for Impact Investment in Emerging and Developing Markets - Investment Decision making and case studies from Development Finance Institutions.

Click here to access the application for Youthquake: Africa’s Jobless Generation — A Geopolitical Ticking Bomb. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Yes, students can apply to participate in more than one seminar if they are able to make all the classes. If applying to multiple, students should indicate their primary preference; final admittance decisions will factor in individual applications as well as overall demand.