Activities

Networking

Due to few networking channels for Harvard professionals in international careers that connect across professional schools and programs, HAGD’s Networking component will strengthen the Harvard alumni community actively working in international professions related to emerging economies by:

  • Enhancing alumni dialogue on critical global development issues through events that promote cross-sector learning (e.g. webinars and online discussion groups)
  • Hosting networking opportunities that enable global Harvard connections across diverse experiences, countries, professions, and sectors using both traditional and web-based networking channels
  • Enabling alumni to share contextual knowledge of geographies, socioeconomic and political situations, regional trends, and other critical local information


Careers

Due to limited services of professional recruitment opportunities for Harvard students and alumni interested in international careers, HAGD’s Careers component will create a robust international career platform and ecosystem for the Harvard community with its growing demand for these services by:

  • Promoting an ongoing jobs board and career pipeline for recruiting opportunities across all Harvard programs for recent graduates, ongoing professionals, and career-changers, including professionals located in remote locations (e.g., partnering with Harvard’s career services offices)
  • Providing mentoring services (e.g., job, organization, and career advice) to HAGD members (including current students), through ongoing dialogues with alumni professionals already in the field
  • Sharing volunteer opportunities including participation in boards of directors and advisors


Education

With limited access to local context information, new innovative programs, and successful leadership practices, HAGD’s Education component will allow Harvard alumni to share experiences and information about current and future global development issues by:

  • Discussing global research and findings (best practices, discoveries, data, trends) from practitioners and researchers across sectors and disciplines (e.g. working with Harvard centers such as the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Center for International Development)
  • Spotlighting alumni experiences in the field, experiments, and successful practices with other members (e.g. alumni newsletters, spotlight blogs, and social media)
  • Raising specific global development issues through highlighting practitioner-based white papers


Partnerships

With few opportunities for connection and collaboration among experienced Harvard researchers and practitioners across Harvard schools, sectors, and geographical locations, HAGD’s Partnership component will foster opportunities that empower cross-sector collaborations:

  • Connecting Harvard alumni across sectors and professions to encourage dialogue and collaboration (e.g. HAGD members from various sectors host web-based discussions on particular issues)
  • Conducting competitions (e.g., hackathons and business plan contests) that encourage innovation, rapid prototyping, and partnerships among members of the broader Harvard community
  • Collaborating with other Harvard SIGs and alumni across Harvard schools and programs focused on global development, for specific global development initiatives and networking opportunities