MPA in Development Practice
Columbia University
Description
The twenty-two month MPA in Development Practice (MPA-DP) trains practitioners to be specialists in the design and management of integrated, results-based approaches to sustainable development challenges. Students learn to address these challenges from problem identification in the field through program design, management and monitoring, and up to the formation of policy. The curriculum emphasizes robust, practical skills and competencies that transcend institutional, sectoral and regional boundaries, and the program provides opportunities to hone these skills with leading organizations across the public and private sectors. Nearly half of the world’s population lives on less than two dollars a day, resulting in unnecessary human suffering caused by debilitating hunger, poor health, environmental degradation and lack of basic infrastructure. These complex challenges can be solved only by connecting and integrating knowledge and insights from a range of disciplines, including science and technology, health, economics, agriculture, and education. As the world enters the post-2015 Age of Sustainable Development, the MPA-DP program is training the practitioners capable of taking action to design and implement these integrative solutions.