GSIPM

Group includes 13 wonderfully diverse participants from seven countries

Update from Nairobi, Kenya: We are halfway through our 8-day certificate training jointly offered by the Locus Network and the Program on Design, Partnering, Management and Innovation (DPMI) at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS).

Participant Profiles

The group includes 13 participants from seven countries (Kenya, Nigeria, Niger, South Africa, the Philippines, Venezuela, and the United States). Participants include Locus Network members from Pact, MIIS graduate students, and other international development practitioners. One Locus participant commented, “I’ve enjoyed meeting others in the group, and it has been a tremendous opportunity to learn from Dr. Beryl Levinger given her decades of experience in international development and teaching.”

Training Highlights

The goal of the training is for participants to build skills to promote local system approaches to sustainable development. It’s a hands-on approach where participants work in small groups to directly apply the tool or framework presented.

Last week the group delved into discussions on the value of social capital and local solutions and applied concepts and tools including: network analysis, causal loop mapping, results frameworks, problem trees, and intervention design.

This week (our final week) the group will cover logframes, indicators, and design-thinking. On our final day, groups will present their designs for a “local solution” to a development challenge through 15-minute presentations to a panel of local social change practitioners.

Out and About in Nairobi

In the spirit of building social capital, the group spent the weekend visiting the Nairobi National Park, the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, the Bomas of Kenya, a Masai market, and a boat ride on Lake Nivasha.

Thanks to Aga Khan

We want to send a big “Thank You” to the Aga Khan Graduate School of Media and Communications and DPMI co-instructor, Matt Reeves, Aga Khan Senior Global Advisor for Civil Society, for hosting the training in the executive training classrooms at the 9West building in Westlands,Nairobi.

About the DPMI Training

A 2-week certificate program that focuses on designing local solutions to important development challenges. Participants master the essentials of  project design including the construction of problem trees, logical frameworks, results frameworks, systems maps, and the selection of strong indicators for effective monitoring. Participants also develop proficiency with a broad set of tools to engage stakeholders, map networks, promote strategic partnering, and facilitate important conversations linked to development outcomes.

Want to participate?

We’re pleased to announce that we will have DPMI trainings in Monterey, Rwanda, Kenya, and DC in 2016. If you would like to learn more about the DPMI program, please contact Carolyn Meyer at cmeyer@miis.edu. You can follow us on twitter at @MIISDPMI or visit http://go.miis.edu/dpmi.