The Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University launches programs and projects on an ongoing basis—all with the goal of advancing the understanding of development challenges and offering viable solutions.

The programs and projects listed below are complete:

Building State Capability
Launched in 2012, Building State Capability (BSC) empowers people to find context appropriate solutions to their problems and improve the implementation of their policies and programs. In July 2024, BSC transitioned its work to the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School.

Empowerment Lab
Promoted innovations that extend the reach of markets in developing countries. Focus on research and activities to promote growth and economic inclusion, uncovering, promoting, and applying sustainable ways to empower the global poor by providing them with access to key markets.

Entrepreneurial Finance Lab Research Initiative (EFLRI)
Launched in 2006 by Bailey Klinger and Asim Khwaja, the Entrepreneurial Finance Lab Research Initiative set out to develop low-cost credit screening tools to help stimulate entrepreneurial finance in emerging markets by addressing information asymmetry.

Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD)
EPoD engaged in deep, multi-year relationships with policymakers and practitioners to design, evaluate, and re-design policy to better serve the poor and other vulnerable groups. EPoD generated dozens of research projects and trained over 10,000 policymakers.

Mexico Program
An academic partnership between the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Graduate School of Public Administration and Public Policy (EGAP) of the Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) that offered collaboration in research and teaching between EGAP and Kennedy School faculty.

Migration Project
Committed to understanding and strengthening the links between migration, remittances and prosperity; while working to expand the possibilities for comprehensive immigration reform in the U.S. by bringing a development lens to the domestic policy debate.

Entire research archive: