Commission On Education For International Development Professionals
In an effort to bolster the leadership and training of development practitioners, the Earth Institute is convening a group of 19 eminent scholars and practitioners from a variety of disciplines in a year-long Commission on Education for International Development Professionals. Launched in early 2007 and supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Commission aims to identify practical initiatives to support an emerging field of cross-disciplinary “sustainable development practice.”
The Commission’s work is anchored in the following core observations:
Sustainable Development Requires Integrated Approaches
The interwoven challenges of sustainable development – including extreme poverty, disease, climate change and ecosystem vulnerability – can be solved only by connecting insights from a range of disciplines.
A New Cadre of Highly-Trained “Generalist” Development Practitioners Is Required
Professionals working in the field of sustainable development – whether in inter-governmental organizations, developing-country ministries, developed-country aid agencies, non-governmental organizations, or academic institutions – are not sufficiently prepared to surmount the challenges they confront.
To address the complex problems of extreme poverty and development in the 21st century, a new generation of professionals is needed with strong management skills as well as practical knowledge across a range of disciplines including the social, natural and health sciences.
Development Practitioners Require Practical, Cross-Disciplinary Training
Sustainable development practice should be supported by new education systems that integrate multi-disciplinary curricula with practical field training. While education for sustainable development may be incorporated into all stages of the academic career, professional training should focus on new graduate degree programs, executive education programs, and professional development programs within organizations.
A Global Network Of Sustainable Development Practice Is Required
A vibrant network of sustainable development practitioners, educators and organizations should be formed to support the launch and expansion of sustainable development education programs. The network should further foster academic and field training collaborations between institutions, while also developing and hosting an open source electronic repository of curricular materials, including case studies as well as innovative teaching and learning tools to support multi-disciplinary courses in development practice around the world.
The Commission’s final recommendations will be announced in a formal launch September, 2008.
Commission Membership (as of May 2008)
| John DeGioia | President, Georgetown University |
| Helene Gayle | President & CEO, CARE |
| Lawrence Haddad* | Director, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex |
| Jim Kim | François-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights, Harvard School of Public Health |
| Jeffrey Koplan* | Vice President for Academic Health Affairs, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory University |
| Freddie Kwesiga* | Coordinator, African Water Facility, African Development Bank |
| Lee Yee Cheong | President, ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology |
| Livingstone Luboobi | Vice-Chancellor, Makerere University |
| Goolam Mohamedbhai | President, International Association of Universities |
| John McArthur** | CEO and Executive Director, Millennium Promise |
| Milena Novy-Marx | Program Officer, MacArthur Foundation |
| RK Pachauri* | Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |
| Alice Pell | Director, Cornell Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development |
| Jeffrey Sachs** | Director, Earth Institute at Columbia University |
| Laurence Tubiana | Director, Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) |
| Ann Veneman | Executive Director, UNICEF |
| Virgilio Viana* | State Secretary for the Environment, Amazonas, Brazil |
| Xiao Geng* | Director, Brookings-Tsinghua Center, Tsinghua University |
| Ernesto Zedillo | Director, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization |
| * Denotes Regional Coordinator ** Denotes Co-chair | |
About the MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster lasting improvement in the human condition. Through the support it provides, the Foundation fosters the development of knowledge, nurtures individual creativity, strengthens institutions, helps improve public policy, and provides information to the public, primarily through support for public interest media. With assets of over $6 billion and grants totaling $225 million annually, MacArthur is one of the nation’s largest private philanthropic foundations. For more information or to sign-up for a monthly e-newsletter please visit www.macfound.org.
For additional information, please contact:
Katie Maeve Murphy
Project Manager
Commission on Education for International Development Professionals
The Earth Institute at Columbia University
kmurphy@ei.columbia.edu
