GSIPM

Josh Fleming (MA IPS ’15) participates in a facilitation exercise during the second week of DPMI Monterey this June.

I had heard repeatedly on campus that DPMI (Design, Partnering, Management and Innovation) is one of the most useful courses you can take. I found this hard to believe at first, but now I agree. If you haven’t taken this leadership training in international development project management and social change then you should reconsider.

You will walk away from the DPMI training having learned some ground-breaking and ‘tried and true’ tools to solving your next problem, motivating your staff or making your next big partnership. Tools that break down these processes  into quantifiable, qualifiable methods to be used at a given moment or throughout the lifespan of a project.

If you are a non-profit guru, a development practitioner in training, or a social change maker then you will notice, quickly, that these tools and capacities that DPMI finds so important are actually pretty important. This is how USAID, and other major non-profit employers do it, and whether you like it or not USAID often sets the standard. Additionally, from the United Nations to grassroots organizations, from CSR departments to State department recruiters–most are looking for project management skills. DPMI fits them nicely into the longest three weeks of your life (Yes, I’ve thrown in a bit of sarcasm). It’s worth it though. I implore you to find one job posting that doesn’t ask for project management skills.

MIIS PTD students meet with Tesla to pitch ideas for the new battery.

Our friends from Tesla visited the MIIS campus last week. They started off the day by meeting with the Peace, Trade, and Development (PTD) summer program students. PTD students learned about what it takes to snag a job at Tesla and work under the driving force of Elon Musk’s vision. This is just the beginning of the MIIS-Tesla exchange. Next week, PTD students will visit the Tesla Gigafactory in Fremont where they will present ideas for the next electric car battery innovation.

The Challenge

The efficiency of the car battery is the lifeblood of moving Tesla forward. PTD students are posed with the Gigafactory challenge question – what are the optimal raw materials to source for battery cell manufacturing?  To arrive at a solid pitch, students will analyze a broad scope of factors, including:

• From where and from whom can the materials be sourced?
• What locations are optimal from a customs duty/tax and logistics cost perspective?
• “Outside the box” ideas and key factors to consider in the sourcing decision

Interested in hearing about how the pitch goes? Stay tuned for an update in the next few days. In the meantime, you can enjoy this video!

* This post contributed by Kelly Quackenbush, MPA candidate ‘15

I find myself in a very familiar place: An airport. As a current MIIS student and former Peace Corps volunteer, the fact that airports are familiar to me is surely no shocker. The airport I am in today happens to be Reagan International, just a quick metro ride from the exciting, even intoxicating city of Washington, DC, where I have just spent three incredible weeks with an incredibly diverse and inspiring group of people.

That’s right, I was at DPMI DC, building my network and learning practical tools and concepts for development work from some of the most highly respected professionals in the field. As someone in her 30s who has already been involved with development work, I initially wondered if this training was for me. It was. It was also for the recent college grads, and the current development workers. One participant, who works in the social responsibility department of his company, told me this was “the best training his work had ever sent him to.”

A new Summer Business Boot Camp will be offered at MIIS from August 8-18, 2014. The training (ECPR 8550 Business Fundamentals) is designed to introduce non-MBA students to fundamental concepts to enhance business acumen and boost professional confidence.

A  new 10 day business certificate program for non-MBA students

The boot camp was designed with the Non-MBA in mind as a way to build business acumen and gain the competitive edge for a managerial role in human or financial resources or in freelance contracting services such as interpretation or translation.

Course Schedule

All classes are scheduled from 9am to 5:30pm with a one hour lunch break in between.

Course Requirements and Related Fees

For the August 8 – 18, 2014 Summer Business Boot Camp, the fee is $850. This is a one-time only discount to celebrate the inaugural boot camp.  The 2015 Summer Business Boot Camp training fee will be $1,600 USD.

Participants will be required to complete the online MBAMath.com training by August 6^th. The MBAMath.com costs $149 and will help students to brush up on basis quantitative skills and excel use.

Fun Fact:  several complimentary happy hours will offer students a way to mingle with top MIIS instructors and build new connections with peers.

Please send inquiries to Lauren Patron: lpatron@miis.edu.

To learn more or to apply, visit: http://www.miis.edu/academics/programs/mba/bootcamp 

– Application deadline EXTENDED to April 29 – 

Team El Salvador Practicum 2014-2015 Call for Leadership Applications

Team El Salvador (TES) is seeking three student leaders to lead the Team El Salvador 9 Practicum during its 2014-2015 program year.

Do you want to gain skills in leadership? International Development? Environmental policy and natural resource management? Survey creation? Improving your Spanish proficiency and communication?

TES leadership is open to all MIIS students, from all departments and fields of study!

How to apply? Please send resume and cover letter to: teamelsalvadormiis@gmail.com by Tuesday, April 29th. Visit us at: http://blogs.miis.edu/teamelsalvador

Team El Salvador provides a unique, professional opportunity for MIIS students to develop and apply practical skills and enhance language proficiency and multicultural competency in a dynamic international setting.

Team leaders will cultivate a variety of professional skills while gaining real world experience. The ideal candidate has a passion for international development, strong leadership skills, and a willingness to facilitate and manage a variety of program elements, including communication and outreach, program development, fundraising, updating and developing website content and social media sites, event scheduling and management, meeting planning and travel logistics and community engagement.

Ideal Candidates will:

• Speak, write and read Spanish at a 400 level
• Understand the mission and goals of Team El Salvador and
El Salvadoran history and culture
• Have strong communication and organizational skills
• Have experience living and working in rural communities of Latin America (or other developing
countries)
• Have a lucid understanding of the unpredictable nature of development work
• Be personable, dynamic, patient, flexible and adaptable to changing program and project
demands
• Have experience with fundraising
• Develop and deliver compelling presentations to MIIS faculty, prospective team members, etc.
Executive management and staff

Will you only be satisfied in your life and career if you make real and meaningful impact? Are you entrepreneurial, deeply driven, and obsessed with finding innovative solutions to our world’s most intractable problems? Do you want to collaborate with the world’s brightest minds and be directly mentored by current world leaders to achieve your ambitious goals? At IPSI, we passionately design and execute the world’s preeminent training programs for peacebuilding professionals.  We are seeking the best and brightest to join our growing global team relentlessly pursuing peace.  Are you one of us? Then join any of the two symposium in Bologna or The Hague:

The 5th Annual Bologna, Italy Symposium on Conflict Prevention, Resolution, & Reconciliation from July 5 – August 2, 2014 at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Center. The symposium will offer direct training by world leaders in international negotiation, mediation, facilitation, strategic nonviolent action, social entrepreneurship, project planning and design, trauma healing, economics of peace, and more. The symposium will provide graduate-level certificate course with continued training and high-level networking opportunities. You can earn M.A. Credits, Johns Hopkins SAIS. Exceptional professionals, graduate students, and accomplished undergraduates are eligible to apply.

2014 The Hague Symposium on Post-Conflict Transitions & International Justice from July 12 – August 9, 2014 at the Clingendael Institute for International Relations. This symposium will offer intensive training in the skills necessary to holistically restructure a post-conflict society, as well as serve justice to those responsible for human rights violations; formal lectures, site visits to International Tribunals and Courts, and interactive simulations and workshops. The symposium will provide graduate-level certificate course with continued training and high-level networking opportunities. You can earn LLM Credits, University of Leiden. Exceptional professionals/lawyers, graduate students, law students, and accomplished undergraduates are eligible to apply.

Application deadline is January 30, 2013. The discounted price is $4,275,00. For more information and application portal, please click here.

Interested in:

• Gaining new skills or knowledge?
• Enhancing already existing skills?
• Meeting people from more than 30 countries and sharing stories and experiences?

Then mark your calendars for SPI 2014! Course offerings and instructors for 2014 are now published online. This year SPI is offering several new courses at the frontiers of peacebuilding, including:

• Media for Societal Transformation, where you can learn to use video and social media to get your message out.
• Trauma-Sensitive Practice and Programming, to explore how to include trauma-sensitivity in all stages of emergency response and post-conflict recovery work.
• The Impact of Social Issues on Restorative Justice will look at the effects of race, class, gender, and culture on individual and community conflict and resilience.
• Peace by Design, where participants will discuss how the design of working spaces conveys a message that helps or hinders the work.
• Applied Playback Theatre for Conflict Transformation, to teach you how to be part of a team of actors that weaves together stories from the audience into a single narrative, while respecting and validating each individual story.
• Mindfulness teaches you to give full and non-judgmental attention in all situations and how to reflect on the similarities and differences between people in conflict that help or hurt situations.

The Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) provides broad-based and specialized trainings that empower participants to contextualize the knowledge to their own situations. Learn more about yourself, others, and the world around you. Courses are open to people interested in integrating conflict transformation, peacebuilding, restorative justice, trauma awareness, and related fields into their own work and life.

The Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) offers four 7-day sessions, each with several courses running simultaneously. An interactive approach is used in all courses. Participants will learn from the course instructor as well as other participants and are encouraged to reflect and to share from their own experiences in the “safe space” created by SPI.  Courses can be taken for professional training or graduate credit. Applications will be considered in order of arrival. For course curriculum, online application and costs, please click here.

The Caux Scholars Program (CSP) is a month long summer peacebuilding institute for young leaders, aged 21-35. Since its founding in 1991, CSP has 409 alumni from 105 countries. The Program equips scholars with the inspiration to be the change they want to see in the world and the practical skills to do so. CSP teaches students to analyze a conflict, to understand the factors that create and sustain conflicts, and provide practical understanding of approaches to resolving conflicts – conflict prevention, negotiation and transitional justice.

Twenty students from around the world are selected for this four-week course held in Caux, Switzerland, during the Initiatives of Change global summer conferences. The program includes approximately 40 hours of academic classes, seven hours per week of “Service for Leadership” practical work, a field trip to Geneva and participation in the Caux conferences. While CSP is not affiliated with a university and does not offer credit, it is often possible for participants to secure credit through their own institution, in consultation with their professor and pursuant to their requirements. CSP is willing to assist in this.

CSP will take place from July 20 – August 16, 2014. Deadline for applications is February 15, 2014. Click here for more information and online application form.

In the spirit of SOCAP (Social Capital Markets), we invite you to continue (or join!) the conversation on social enterprise and impact investment with your friends at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the Frontier Market Scouts Program.

When: Wednesday, September 4, 4:30-7 PM

Where: The Pub at Ghirardelli Square, 851 Beach Street, San Francisco, CA, 94109

Who: This event will bring together SOCAP conference attendees, and friends and alumni from the Monterey Institute and Frontier Market Scout programs.

Join us for cocktails and appetizers!

Please RSVP on this site by September 1st.

For questions, call, 831-647-3550 or email fms@miis.edu.

The Peace, Trade and Development Program is over but the students left with quite some impressions. One of the highlights was the visit to Google Headquarters in Silicon Valley where students were able to see new technologies and innovations.

Over a four-week period, participants of the PTD program work through an integrated curriculum covering trade policy, development, conflict resolution and social change, and their impact on crucial global issues. Classes are delivered by policy and business faculty from the Monterey Institute, and include both lectures and “hands-on” learning from case studies, simulations, and group discussions. A series of site visits allow participants to see these concepts in action, taking advantage of California’s unique role in the global economy.

International Undergraduate Business students from Shandong, China concluded their cross-cultural experience with a fun-filled weekend in San Francisco. Three weeks of class, interspersed with tours around the Monterey Bay,  as well as to Santa Cruz and the South Bay went by so fast!

This past Saturday (August 3, 2013), 18 participants in the summer Peace, Trade and Development program and three MIIS staff traveled to Watsonville, CA to glean organic leeks for local food banks. The opportunity was organized by the local nonprofit Ag Against Hunger.

The group joined the opportunity to wear hairnets and see from where our produce comes and the effort it takes to harvest crops. The local farmer who donated the crops started the glean out with the following joke, “How do you find a farmer with 1 million dollars?” The answer: “You find a farmer who started out with 2 million.”

The DPMI Monterey summer 2013 class had its first happy hour on Wednesday evening at My Attic on Alvarado Street.  Students of the program, alumni, and professionals from the development world had a great time while sharing their experiences and getting to know each other.
Eileen Burke, Director of Media & Communications for Save the Children, and Professor Beryl Levinger, chair of the MIIS Public Administration program, were among the attendees. Dr. Levinger welcomed guests to the happy hour, introduced the summer 2013 DPMI program, and shared some of her expertise about the development world.

Ms. Burke spoke of the importance of communications and social media for organizations and gave valuable advice on how to work productively with the media and best utilize social media. Ms. Burke also told guests about her background and passed on career advice to the attendees. Students and alumni asked questions and had enlightening conversations about their development philosophies.
This was a very happy ending of a long day of intense class work. Guests left the happy hour with big smiles on their faces, having formed stronger bonds with their colleagues.

Learn more about DPMI and future trainings.

Apply for a new US-based field program and training in Salt Lake City, Utah this summer.

The FMS program will launch a domestic training program on May 28, 2013 at the Sorenson Center for Global Impact Investing at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. This training is excellent for those who want to work in the social impact investing space in the United States.

Apply for the training and a 3-6 month US-based field placement today. Applications reviewed on a rolling basis.

Team Peru is now accepting applications for its Summer 2013 practicum, scheduled June 17-August 12.  Applications are due April 30th and are available on the Team Peru blog and on Zocalo. Informational meetings will occur during the weeks of April 15th and April 22nd.

Students looking for a summer internship that offers international fieldwork experience and DPMI+, IAPP or elective credit will gain professional skills within the frameworks of:

–Grassroots development
–Community participation and ownership
–Sustainable agriculture
–Nutrition and food security
–NGO partnership building and networking
–Program evaluation
–Community savings and financial literacy programming
–Social enterprise
–Women’s empowerment

About Team Peru

Team Peru is a graduate student group from the Monterey Institute (MIIS) that works alongside with the Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development (AASD), an impact-driven social change organization working in the Sacred Valley of Peru. The AASD was founded by MIIS and Team Peru alumni, and the organization continues to partner with development students to actively design, implement, and evaluate their main projects. Team Peru engages in and promotes a unique experiential learning model, which integrates fieldwork with coursework and professional development.

Development Project Management Institute Information Session

When: Tuesdayday, March 3, 12:15 – 2:00pm
Where: McGowan 102
What: DPMI is a three-week training in project management and design, strategic partnership, social entrepreneurship, and facilitation as they relate to the field of international development. DPMI Plus is a course in which students complete deliverables in their field of study while serving a 3-9 month internship.

The International Business Plan prepares students to confront real world business challenges, emphasizing effective communication, presentation skills, teamwork, and problem-solving orientation.

There are two review sessions scheduled:

• May 18, in MG100, from 12-2pm and
• May 22, in MG 100, from 1-2:30pm.

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

FCHA Global Builders Teams provides a life-changing experience. Volunteers build homes shoulder to shoulder with needy families. Come spend two weeks of your summer making a change!

August 11- 25, 2012 in Yerevan, Armenia

Team Leader: Larissa Printzian

Larissa Printzian has over 8 years of experience in non-profit management. As a child of Russian and Armenian immigrants, she has a strong affinity for interest in Armenia. This will be her sixth trip to Armenia and the second time she has lead a trip. For more details about this trip or answers to your questions, please contact her email at larissap@got.net.

For more information on Global Builder trips to Armenia, please visit http://www.fullercenter.org/global-builders/armenia

The application for Team Peru Summer 2012 is approaching fast! This Friday (April 13) is the last day to apply! Team Peru has put together an informative video for all interested applicants to get an idea of what Team Peru does. If you were not able to attend the informational meetings, and are interested in this organization, Team Peru recommends you watch the following video.

You can find the video at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBnmHkjX8Yk

These two ventures represent just a small slice of what makes up Village Capital’s portfolio of game-changing social enterprises. Other superstars from past accelerator programs include Quadrado Magico, an affordable e-learning company in Brazil; Rainsaucers, a rainwater-harvesting company that provides clean running water in Guatemala; Tastia, an “ebay” for local agriculture in London; and many more!

Learn more: visit Frontier Market Scouts website and our blog!