A crucial element to the preparation of international development professionals is practical experience. Through the MDP mandatory internship opportunity, MDP students will have the opportunity to work with international development organizations in a variety of contexts. All organizations express a commitment to improving the status and livelihoods of their constituencies and stakeholders, but take varied approaches to meeting their stated goals. Throughout the Global South, development projects have demonstrated mixed results, resulting in an ongoing need to examine our work as international development professionals.
This course will provide students with the back "bookend" work associated with their internship experience. Course units are designed to provide the opportunity to debrief their experiences, then report back to partner agencies on results from summer work. We begin with initial feedback - debriefing the MDP summer experience, examining the personal phenomenon of "re-entry" - which is the process of re-entering a familiar culture (e.g., the University of Minnesota and, for some, U.S. culture) after a novel cultural experience. In class we will examine the process of navigating psychological and professional tensions that arose when new experiences (cultural or professional) had a personal impact on the MDP intern.