When Dani Rodrik was asked to design a graduate program to train future leaders in global development, he knew he wanted a rigorous program that focused on some of the most urgent problems around the world with a goal of generating economic growth and reducing poverty.
“My motto for the program has always been 'soft hearts and hard minds,'” said Rodrik, the Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School and an influential scholar of international economics and development.
The year was 2000 and Rodrik had just returned to Harvard from a teaching post at Columbia University. The HKS dean at the time, Joseph Nye, approached Rodrik with the idea of a new program for the Kennedy School, a master's in public administration for international development (MPA/ID) that would focus on economic growth in countries outside of the United States, something new for HKS, which had previously focused more on domestic public policy.
In May, the MPA/ID program celebrated its 25-year anniversary with a reunion on the HKS campus of over 350 graduates from all over the world. For Rodrik, visiting with alums reinforced his pride in the program.
“We designed every single part of the curriculum from the ground up to attract future leaders who were committed to action,” said Rodrik, who stepped down as the program’s faculty chair in May. “Future professionals who would be working on the ground, but also with a very rigorous program of training that involved a significant amount of economics and quantitative methods.”
Rodrik felt the new program would attract qualified applicants. “We created an entirely different professional pathway for work in development,” said Rodrik. “And we had no idea who would show up.”
Before the MPA/ID program existed, Rodrik said professionals in global economic development were either PhDs in economics who had ended up in multilateral agencies like the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank, or experienced professionals, who had come more from a background in management or public administration, with fewer quantitative skills.
That first MPA/ID cohort graduated 50 students.
“We created graduates who are essentially as well-trained in economics as most PhDs in economics are, but have professionally applied experience, and an exposure to issues of governance, management, ethics, and politics from the get-go,” said Rodrik. This combination of skills is developed through the extensive core curriculum of the MPA/ID.
The impact of MPA/ID graduates is evident, Rodrik believes, in on-the-ground work they do on a range of social issues—whether education, or health service delivery, or work in gender programs, for example. MPA/ID graduates are managing the flow of international finance, working for emerging markets for large international financial institutions, and private investors. “And a fair number has gone, as we were hoping they would, into politics as well,” he said.
“Wherever I go, whether it is the World Economic Forum in Davos, or visiting Jakarta to give a talk to a group of government officials, I’m always greeted by a small group of MPA/IDs that have been there, or have done things that are really just amazing and are just playing a very critical role,” said Rodrik
Twenty-five years later, the program still fills to capacity each session. “We have been successful beyond any of my initial dreams in terms of the quality of people who we have been able to attract to this program,” he said.
Mother of the MPA/ID
Much of the success of the program, if you ask the graduates, is due to the program director, Carol J. Finney MPP 1984.
Finney came to HKS to study public policy related to urban poverty in the MPP program. Following graduation, she served as executive assistant to then-dean Graham Allison for three years. She returned to HKS in 1998 to lead the newly created MPA/ID program.
After 27 years, Finney also stepped away from the MPA/ID program, retiring from HKS in June.
If the faculty director oversees the curricular direction of the program, and coordinates faculty across all courses, Finney, as program director, runs the show, from admissions to student relations to course management. Finney said much of what she did as director was organizational but also involved creating a supportive student culture.
Graduates, the vast majority of whom are international students, credit her for making them feel welcome, comfortable, and safe. “I have three children,” said Finney, “But during the first academic year the joke became that I had 53.”
Admission to the program is tough. Applicants are required to take the GRE and the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language.
And higher math skills are essential. “After that initial year,” said Finney, “It became abundantly clear that there was a gap between what students knew and the math level the faculty wanted to teach.” Beginning with the second cohort, the program offered “Math Camp” the summer before, where people who haven’t been in class in a while can get refresher on necessary skills.
The camp also helped international students learn their way around campus and the American way of life. One of the new experiences, a tradition that endures still, is the Freedom Trail scavenger hunt in Boston.
“We assign study groups of people from different backgrounds who have to get to know each other by finding items on the scavenger hunt,” explained Finney. “It is a team-building exercise that still sets the tone for the program today.”
Attracting applicants has never been a problem since that inaugural year. “We have more than 75% from low- and middle-income countries. And the remaining 25% is split between Americans and Europe, Japan, Australia, and Canada,” said Finney.
She credits the World Bank for the international success of the program.
“One of my first tasks was to write a proposal to the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship program for a partnership with the MPA/ID, which had so far no faculty, no courses, no students, no alumni,” Finney said. “It was a bit of creative writing, but we were able to get them to come for a visit and a preview.”
The World Bank decided to fully fund up to 20 scholars—tuition and fees, health insurance, a living stipend, and travel—that first year, and they have continued to fund scholars ever since. “That generous support has enabled us to build a cohort of people from developing countries. It was such a breakthrough,” she said.
As Finney celebrated the 25th anniversary of the MPA/ID with graduates and colleagues, she finds stepping away from the program she shepherded all these years bittersweet. “I will miss my wonderful faculty colleagues and staff, but mostly I will miss these incredible students.”
“Our grads are our best ads”
One of those students, M. Bady Baldé MPA/ID 2010, said the program changed his life for the better and forever. “I met Carol in a moment of uncertainty and self-doubt,” he recalled. “I left with a renewed sense of purpose and determination.”
“I immigrated to America in 2005 from Guinea, where I was working in banking. I took a job in the Harvard dining hall service to learn English,” said Baldé.
As his English steadily improved, Baldé, was promoted to the University’s credit union. There he began looking for graduate programs that would help him attain his dream of supporting natural resource governance in developing countries. Upon learning of the MPA/ID program at HKS, he immediately reached out to Finney to learn more.
It was not an easy path. “In addition to my English classes, I had to take math classes at the extension school, first to validate whether the math I learned in West Africa was equivalent to what it is at Harvard,” he said.
Baldé not only got his advanced degree from HKS, he also got his first job offer.
He learned that Dr. Peter Eigen, the founder of Transparency International and chair of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was giving a lecture at HKS. EITI is a global non-profit promoting open and accountable management of oil, gas, and mineral resources. After talking with him, Eigen said EITI hired him on the spot. Baldé has been there ever since and is an executive director in the Oslo-based organization, working with 55 member countries.
“I feel very privileged to have found this path, this course, and these people,” he said. “In my view, these types of programs are huge assets to America’s soft power,” said Baldé, referring to the iconic phrase coined by former HKS dean Joseph Nye, who passed away in May.
Finney often quotes a line coined by the first cohort of students for the MPA/ID program, “Our grads are our best ads,” and that certainly holds true for Paula Pedro MPA/ID 2013. Pedro learned from a colleague, an alum of the program, that the MPA/ID would be a stronger path for her than a traditional master’s in economics. “This degree combined the rigorous quantitative aspects with the practical policy experience I needed,” she said.
Pedro is the executive director for Latin America with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). Based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, J-PAL is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence.
“Organizations like J-PAL work to foster a learning cycle where implementers of social programs can build a continuous learning cycle in partnership with academia,” said Pedro. In Latin America, she works with governments, NGOs, and universities to make sure social programs are “technically correct, politically viable, and administratively feasible” to quote the triangle theory taught in core courses at HKS. “There’s a lot of MPA/ID in what we do,” she said.
At the 25th anniversary celebration for the program, she was reminded of a summer internship she did in Bangalore with Professor Rema Hanna, the Jeffrey Cheah Professor of South-East Asia Studies. “To be exposed to a new culture and work on a specific project with an experienced professor is unlike any educational experience I know,” said Pedro. “It was the perfect introduction to the world of evaluations and randomized controlled trials.”
Pedro also thinks one of the strengths of the MPA/ID program is the pluralism of views. “What makes the culture at the MPA/ID so exciting is the incredible diversity of skills and backgrounds,” she said. “It’s a real strength to engage with such a wide range of perspectives. It has challenged me to think more openly and equipped me with a more innovative lens for analyzing complex issues,” she said.
For Jessica Camacho MPA/ID 2013, the program provided the skills, network, and leadership opportunities to take on influential roles in the Peruvian government. “I am deeply committed to public service and to working within government systems” she said. Camacho has held several leadership positions in the Peruvian government, including most recently as the general director of public budget, where she led efforts to align international development lessons with the financing of multi-sectoral public policies.
The political landscape in Peru has become increasingly challenging for international development practitioners, said Camacho, leading many to leave government roles. “In Latin America, the ecosystem of politics is very difficult for some,” she said. “The HKS program has given Peru a group of practitioners who are connected, get things done, and become trusted allies to drive the kind of transformative work we learned in our adaptive leadership classes.” Camacho is now focused on rebuilding an ecosystem of MPA/ID graduates and like-minded professionals who remain engaged in Peru’s development even if they’re not in formal government roles to work collectively on reforms and national development.
At the reunion, in moments when some international practitioners may have felt a loss of purpose, she felt personally addressed when Lant Pritchett (a former HKS professor) spoke about strategic incrementalism, saying that countries need graduates to work on accelerating the productivity of people’s surroundings, improving government effectiveness, and making public institutions truly responsive to people’s needs. “What he said really stood out for me: We cannot escape the hard work of fixing the government.”
“I’m currently focusing on policies that promote national growth, expand women’s income opportunities, and cultivate a new generation of public leaders,” she said. “We are facing more moral challenges than ever before and that requires us to be more human, to be more humble, and go back to our local governments and ask what we can do.”
Stepping into big shoes
For Sarah Olia, currently the associate program director, stepping into the role of program director will be a natural transition, one that she finds both exciting and daunting. A former Peace Corps volunteer, Olia finds the MPA/ID has the same values and ideas that she loves while working in the field. “I’m excited about recruiting more Peace Corps volunteers into the program,” she said.
At the same time, she describes becoming the program director as a bit daunting – but she is ready for the challenge. “I find it really hard to imagine somebody else doing this job because only one person has ever done it in all of history, though I have been fortunate to work alongside Carol for many years and share her commitment to supporting students” said Olia, who recently celebrated her 10-year anniversary with the MPA/ID program.
“In my view, these types of programs are huge assets to America’s soft power.”
But with a new faculty chair, Professor of Public Policy Eliana La Ferrara, coming onboard as well, the time seemed right. “It’s a clear moment of transition on all fronts. And over the last 10 years, I have gotten to know the key program faculty and hundreds of MPA/ID students, so I don’t think it will be as hard a change as it could’ve been,” said Olia.
From a program administration standpoint, one area that concerns Olia is the current political atmosphere and how it might impact a program that depends on international students. Harvard is in a legal battle with the Trump administration after the Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification the university holds to enroll international students was revoked and Olia is not sure how this latest political volley will be resolved. But she is fully invested in making each student who joins the program feel welcome and valued. In 25 years, the program has enrolled students from 123 countries. Myanmar is the newest country to be added.
“The daily uncertainty, I think, is making it difficult. We are fielding emails from students all the time wondering if they will be able to come this fall," she said.
Looking ahead, Olia has some clear priorities.
“Maintaining the unique feeling of community that the MPA/ID students have is absolutely essential,” she said. “That has been one of the hallmarks of the program and it is not something we will let slide.” As many alums echoed at the 25th anniversary reunion, this is a master program environment that is unmatched in any other graduate school.
La Ferrara, the new faculty chair for the program, is also excited to teach and create opportunities for the wide array of students the program attracts. She is the co-instructor of the economic development course with Rodrik.
“Thanks to Dani’s vision, this program has been able to attract the best talent when it comes to development policy, drawing from countries all over the world,” said La Ferrara. “It is their ideals and commitment to making a difference that energize me and give me a sense of purpose for the program.”
La Ferrara’s research focuses on development economics and political economics, particularly on the role of social factors in economic development.
“I have always believed in the combination of research and policy,” she said. “In grounding our answers to policy questions in rigorous economic theory and empirical evidence.” She feels the MPA/ID program is built on this philosophy.
“I believe the program should continue to train students whose approach to policy is to ask novel questions and seek ambitious answers,” said La Ferrara. “My research draws inspiration from other social sciences, and I believe in the value of combining perspectives from different aspects.” It is an aspect of the MPA/ID program she hopes to grow.
Another goal is to review the curriculum to prepare for issues facing international students in an evolving world landscape. “We want to make sure our teaching reflects the new demands and professional opportunities that emerge—from the role of AI to global economic and political challenges,” she said. Experiential learning, especially with HKS centers like the Center for International Development, is an element she would like to build on in the program.
“Carol and Dani have done an amazing and unparallelled job over the last 25 years, and Sarah and I have big shoes to fill,” La Ferrara said.
With such a significant passing of the torch, students were vocal in their tributes. Baldé perhaps penned the best salute to the program—and its director—in a note he sent to Finney just before the reunion.
“I cannot fully express how much the MPA/ID program has given me—the intellectual framework, the inspiration, and the resilience to continue in the pursuit of public service,” he wrote. “You opened the doors to a whole new world for me and inspired me to show up every day with energy, enthusiasm, and perseverance.”
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Photography by Bethany Versoy and Martha Stewart