Master of Sustainable Development Practice:
Managing Sustainable Development in Africa and Latin America
We are still accepting applications for Fall 2013, click here to learn more about admission guidelines.
Although tropical and sub-tropical countries contain some of the most diverse and resource rich environments, they also face the most significant development challenges. Achieving sustainable development in these countries will require major advances against hunger, poverty and disease while ensuring the protection of natural resources. Increasingly, making these advances will depend on practitioners who are able to address development challenges holistically.
Initiated with support from the MacArthur Foundation, the MDP degree at the University of Florida is focused on training development practitioners who are able to address development challenges facing poor, resource rich communities in innovative ways. The UF MDP bridges the Natural sciences, Social sciences, Health sciences and Management. The program builds on University of Florida's internationally recognized Tropical Conservation and Development (TCD) program.
Our program strength lies in our faculty, who have, over the last 30 years, developed a niche working with resource rich communities in Africa and Latin America using grassroots participatory approaches to development and research. Faculty teaching in the program are involved in various cross-national collaborative projects including Community Based Natural Resource Management Project (Dr. Child and Dr. Barnes) and African Power and Politics (Dr. Serra).
The MDP program is administered jointly between the Center for Latin American Studies and the Center for African Studies at the University of Florida
MDP Framework
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Mission
The aim of the program is to enable students to understand the multidimensional nature of development challenges. We are committed to not only helping students gain the analytical capacity and tools to apply to development challenges but also to become critical thinkers of the development process and its implications.
We will train and socialize highly skilled generalist practitioners that:
. Are intellectually and culturally able to address complex sustainable development challenges by working across disciplinary boundaries and bridge scholarship and practice
. Are able to analyze and communicate multi-dimensional development problems (such as poverty, weak governance, climate vulnerability) at the interface of environment, health and development.
. Are able to plan, manage and monitor development interventions
. Have acquired knowledge and skills for assessing or managing organizations, staff and teams
Courses are designed to bridge scholarship, practice and skills training. In addition to on campus instruction our students benefit from field based training in collaboration with key partners in Africa and Latin America. This field experience is designed to help students build strong networks with practitioners and to apply their skills to real development challenges.
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