About IEDP

About IEDP

The IEDP was established in 1999 by the IPSA at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. It is a student initiated, three-credit program that serves as a forum for students to discuss the challenges faced by developing economies. IEDP participants engage in a seven-week course in the winter semester, extensively studying the country of choice, and then take a one-week trip to the country over Spring Break. During the trip, IEDP students conduct extensive interviews and discussions with policymakers, members of civil society, foreign development agencies and university students. So far the IEDP has visited 11 countries, including Ethiopia, Cuba, Morocco, China, Costa Rica, Peru, Jordan, Senegal and the Philippines. The country of study for 2011 is Grenada, the first country from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the IEDP's history.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Rough Outlines of Committee Duties

This is just a rough outline of each committee's duties. They may change and evolve along the course of this program.

Fund Raising Committee:
  • Assist with grant writing
  • Help establish contacts across campus in an effort to best utilize financial opportunities/resources (quality over quantity…important to research and know potential donors!)
  • Frequently update a shared spreadsheet, allowing the rest of the group to know how your grant work is coming along
  • Write ‘thank you’ follow-ups once grant money is received
  • Help maintain organized records of fundraising efforts
  • Other fund raising related work
Logistic Committee:
  • Arranging air travel to Grenada and lodging
  • Arranging travel within Grenada, including daily travel to meeting locations
  • Knowing and working with any security issues that may come up during the trip
  • Acquiring cell phones for use within Grenada
  • Locating and hiring any needed tour guides
  • Writing and organizing a “booklet” for each member of the course to review before the trip, detailing important customs, advisories, and basic touristy information.
  • Keeping the rest of the class on track for acquiring passports and visas and necessary vaccinations. (depend on nationality)
Meeting/Contact Committee:
  • Aggregate contact list from across topics; narrow contact list based on availability, time constraints and equitable distribution
  • Contact all parties via email and telephone
  • Assemble agenda on c-tools calendar and coordinate with the logistics committee
  • Identify which meetings will require translation and work with logistics committee to arrange translator.
Documentation Committee:
  • Develop plan for documentation of the trip to Grenada and meetings with stakeholders
  • Ensuring that policy reports are shared with all partners, funders and in-country stakeholders
  • Prepare for the final presentation
  • Other outreach communication tasks
  • Support faculty in class