CID's Student Ambassador Program offers Harvard graduate and undergraduate students an opportunity to contribute to and embody CID’s mission of building a thriving world for all.

Student Ambassadors are selected annually based on their commitment to help drive international development research and programming, organize and lead fellow students, and represent CID internally at Harvard and externally with leading practitioners and researchers.

Student Ambassadors represent CID’s Harvard-wide and global reach and help CID create programming, build community, and deploy talent across the university and beyond. A CID Student Ambassador is passionate about solving the world’s most pressing development problems. They are leaders and doers, proactively leaning in to help CID build, convene, and deploy talent here in Cambridge, MA and around the world. Ambassadors serve for nine-month terms from September to May each academic year. They bring diverse experiences and come from a variety of disciplines and schools across the university.

group of people gathered in a living room for photo
CID student ambassadors and other community members gather to celebrate the end of the academic year.

A CID Student Ambassador is...

  • An actively enrolled Harvard student located in the Cambridge, MA area throughout the duration of the academic year.
  • A representative of a student organization, a Harvard School or degree program or a specified cohort of students
  • Pursuing or is interested in pursuing a career in international development.
  • Willing to commit ~3-5 hours/week to organize, support, and lead CID activities.
  • Able to represent and connect CID with interested student groups, schools, and alumni from across the university.
  • A self-starter and leader who can self-organize Harvard students to advance CID’s mission.
  • Someone with strong interpersonal skills, attention to detail, and who can represent the center confidently and appropriately.
  • Someone who wants to challenge themselves to think critically about international development and their role as future leaders.

CID Student Ambassadors benefit from:

  • Community: being part of an inclusive and engaging CID community of faculty, programs, fellows, staff, and alumni
  • Leadership: Student Ambassadors represent the next generation of development professionals and contribute to co-creating CID’s strategic goals for the future of international development at Harvard and globally
  • Professional Development: building critical skills and a network of development professionals across the university

What are the responsibilities of a CID Student Ambassador?

  • Ambassadors are the face of CID with students across Harvard University.
  • Ambassadors work closely with CID staff to support the center’s strategic goals for the year and bring the voice and interest of students to the forefront of the center’s work.
  • Ambassadors work together to co-create CID programming, career events, or media across the entire Harvard community. 
  • Ambassadors will moderate at least one CID Speaker Series or other CID event.
  • Ambassadors will contribute to at least one blog post or social media post.
  • Ambassadors will suggest ways to engage with alumni in their program.
  • Ambassadors will participate in a virtual August orientation, as well as the CID Open House event at the start of the semester. 
  • Some specific roles may include teams focused on events or communications to contribute to our CID Voices and other social media platforms.
  • Note that this is an unpaid volunteer position.

CID Student Ambassador applications for the AY26-27 academic year have closed.

Coming from across the University and representing all levels of academic study, CID's student ambassadors are leaders of the international development community at Harvard.
Meet our Student Ambassadors