A small team of students from the MSc Development Management 2015/2016 course presented a successful report last week in collaboration with Charities Aid Foundation at the pre-launch event for their research. Silky Agrawal, Brooks Reed, and Riya Saxena share their experiences

Agrawal, Silky

Reed, Brooks

Saxena, Riya

LSE Research Online

5/15/2017 LSE International Development – Student Experience: Development Management consultancy project presents report to leaders in the fieldhttp://blogs.lse.ac.uk/internationaldevelopment/2016/10/20/student­experience­development­managment­consultancy­project­presents­report­to­leaders­in… 1/3Student Experience: Development Management consultancy projectpresents report to leaders in the fieldA  small  team  of  students  from  the  MSc  Development  Management  2015/2016  coursepresented a successful report  last week in collaboration with Charities Aid Foundation atthe pre­launch event for their research. Silky Agrawal, Brooks Reed, and Riya Saxena sharetheir experiences:This past year we had the opportunity to participate in the consultancy project as part of the MScDevelopment Management Program. Our report, Beyond Integrity: Exploring the Role of Businessin Preserving  the Civil Society Space, was commissioned by Charities Aid Foundation  (CAF), aLondon­based  NGO  that  operates  on  the  border  between  the  business  and  civic  spaces.  Thepaper  was  very  successful  –  CAF  decided  to  publish,  and  we  presented  our  findings  tostakeholders from business and civil society organizations at a invite­only pre­launch event in mid­October. The panel of experts  that discussed  the  report  included  leaders  in  the  field, such as aformer US Deputy  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  for  Democracy,  Human Rights,  and  Labor.  TheDepartment  has  asked us  to write  about  our  takeaways  from  the  project,  and we are  happy  toshare about our experiences and give some advice for future Development Managers.From the beginning, our task was daunting: we were effectively creating a new space for dialoguesurrounding  business  and  human  rights  practices.  We  chose  the  project  because  we  were  allinterested in private sector development, but our research question dealt with issues beyond the5/15/2017 LSE International Development – Student Experience: Development Management consultancy project presents report to leaders in the fieldhttp://blogs.lse.ac.uk/internationaldevelopment/2016/10/20/student­experience­development­managment­consultancy­project­presents­report­to­leaders­in… 2/3pale of  traditional conversations about corporate social  responsibility and sustainability: how canwe  create  an  environment  that  encourages  the  private  sector  to  engage  in  preserving  the  civilsociety space?Corporations are generally illiterate in civic space issues, but there is growing pressure for them toengage in support of human rights defenders facing oppression from national governments aroundthe  world.  Our  research  focused  on  four  cases  of  positive  corporate  action  to  define  a  newparadigm for responsible behavior.We developed our cases through a series of semi­structured stakeholder interviews. Securing theinitial  interviews  was  tough  –  we  had  to  be  creative  in  making  contacts,  resorting  tounconventional strategies such as tweeting at hard­to­reach contacts or adding them on LinkedIn,but we were helped most by our professors at LSE, who have impressive networks both in Londonand the field. Throughout the whole process we conducted over 30 interviews and received inputfrom diverse stakeholders, from the human rights defenders who were the subject of some of ourcases to a series of high­level managers from companies such as Inditex, PUMA, H&M, and NewLook.Looking back on the process, we know that we have learned an incredible amount from the projectand each other. The journey to this point has involved a steep learning curve, but we are proud ofour final product and we hope that the following advice can help aspiring Development Managersget as much, if not more, from their projects in the future:1. Extra effort can pay off: from the beginning, we decided that we wanted to create a product that wasacademically robust, but also useful to the organization. We put in a lot of time sifting through the datafrom our cases to identify the most valuable and impactful key learnings. Then, even after thesubmission of the report to LSE, we committed to work further with our clients for 6 more months torefine the language of the paper to communicate better with the targeted audience. This involved afurther round of interviews and a revision of key parts of the report. Although this was difficult to jugglewith exams and dissertation writing, it paid off in the quality of the final report and established ourcredibility as experts in our topic area.2. Team Management: our team dynamic was distinct and best suited to each team member’s strength.Although we set roles in the beginning, we quickly discovered that it was more efficient to operate moreflexibly, supporting one another as the need arose. We worked very well because we were open tocritical feedback from each other, and we were willing to prioritize the quality of the report over ourown self-validation – something that allowed us to work without personal ego getting in the way.3. Be bold to follow your passion in choosing a project: While working with big organizations can be aninvaluable experience, doing your project on an issue in which you are passionate contributes to thework being more authentic, engaging, and personally rewarding.Throughout  the process, we were so very  fortunate  to have CAF as our clients,  specifically ourcontacts  Sameera  Mehra  and  Adam  Pickering.  They  gave  us  the  space  to  conceptualize  thescope  of  the  study  while  also  giving  us  support  and  appropriate  training  that  allowed  us  toeffectively  engage with  the  relevant  stakeholders. We are grateful  to CAF  for  valuing our work,recognizing the hard work we put in, and using it to stimulate dialogue in this new space. As part of the MSc Development Management programme, teams of 3­5 students do ‘live’consulting work  for  real­world,  public,  private,  and  non­profit  organisations  such  as  theWorld  Bank,  Oxfam,  PricewaterhouseCoopers,  GIZ,  CARE,  DFID,  Save  the  Children,UNICEF,  the  Emerging Markets  Group  and Wedu.  Along with  seminar  presentations,  theproject adds a key applied component – teaching students real­world practical skills. Youcan read similar blog posts from Development Management students here.5/15/2017 LSE International Development – Student Experience: Development Management consultancy project presents report to leaders in the fieldhttp://blogs.lse.ac.uk/internationaldevelopment/2016/10/20/student­experience­development­managment­consultancy­project­presents­report­to­leaders­in… 3/3October 20th, 2016 | Department Alumni, Featured, Publications, Student Experience | 1 Comment

Student Experience: Development Management consultancy project presents report to leaders in the field

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