SIPA Hosts SDG Accelerator Workshop

In 2017 the Global Public Policy Network created the first academic program to train emerging leaders to create solutions for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

The one-year program includes a leadership module (at Sciences Po in Paris), a skills module (at Columbia SIPA in New York), SDG-oriented courses (at participants’ home schools), and presentation of an SDG final project and graduation from the program (at GPPN’s Annual Global Conference).

This week SIPA hosted its unit of the program, known as the SDG Accelerator Workshop, welcoming four student teams comprising 18 students from Sciences Po, the Hertie School, the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy, and SIPA. Over the course of five days, attendees assessed their progress since the Paris unit and worked to move their projects from thematic concepts to operational plans.

Program highlights included skills workshops (devoted to stakeholder analysis and partnership building, logical framework analysis and monitoring and evaluation, and resource mobilization including business modeling and pitching), consultation with the UN and New York City government agencies, an introduction to financing for sustainable development.

Students are pictured below in a workshop with Andre Correa d’Almeida and on their visit to the UN, joined by SIPA faculty members Glenn Denning and Correa d’Almeida as well as Cory Way and Alleyne Waysome of SIPA’s Office of Student Affairs. The third photo is at City Hall in New York.