Learn how to integrate policy, scholarship, ethics, and participatory practice to achieve sustainable development goals.
For programs beginning in 2023
36
Full-Time
January 31, followed by rolling admissions until June 15
January 31, no rolling admission
1 Year
Ecuador, Malawi, South Africa
Development & Inequality
Grounded in SIT’s unique brand of experiential, place-based learning, explore how global health crises, economic inequality, natural resource degradation, and political and ethnic conflict are interconnected, requiring a new generation of highly educated, innovative, multidisciplinary development practitioners.
Starting in Quito, Ecuador, a city high in the Andes, you will explore the challenges of one of the most biodiverse countries in the world while learning from faculty, guest lecturers, and experts in the field. Study ecological impacts, forest regeneration, sustainable land practices, and conservation on excursion to northern Ecuador’s patchwork of cloud forests. Excursions may also include trips to the coast.
Spend your second semester in Africa, splitting your time between Cape Town in South Africa, and the smaller river city of Lilongwe, Malawi. For 15 weeks, you will engage in comparative analyses of how design thinking, monitoring and evaluation, economics, resource management, health policy, and trade are affected by local needs, diverse livelihood practices, cultural identities, and varied histories of colonization and resistance. Though based in the city, you will examine sustainable and regenerative development practices in urban, peri-urban, and rural locations during site visits and fieldwork.
In the final semester of this one-year program, you will spend 10 to 12 weeks in a full-time practicum in a role and location of your choice, drawing from SIT’s worldwide professional networks. You will gain the experience and hands-on skills you need to attain your career goals and will also complete a capstone paper.
The SIT Master’s in Sustainable Development Practice offers you a chance to obtain professional skills while conducting research and fieldwork in a highly competitive global environment. As a graduate, you’ll be prepared to integrate policy, scholarship, ethics, participatory practice, and lifelong learning to achieve sustainable, global development goals in the 21st century.
Students who have graduated with this degree have worked in careers such as:
Career development specialist
Foreign Service officer
Monitoring and evaluation officer
Program manager in sustainability
Program manager in food and nutrition security
Public health analyst with a government agency
Independent consultant in nonprofit sector
Director, government development policy
Senior policy associate
Visit the SIT blog to read more about SIT Graduate Institute alumni careers.
In Quito, Ecuador’s capital, learn development practice in a multicultural, stratified society that has experienced political upheaval affecting multiple systems. Witness a dominant civilization in crisis, providing key opportunities for you to study how global health, economics, and culture impact the quality of life in urban and indigenous communities.
Excursion highlights may include:
Click here for a description of the SIT center in Ecuador.
The legislative capital of South Africa, Cape Town is a world-renowned port city, famous for its natural beauty and is the recipient of many international travel awards. It is also regarded as the most unequal city, within the world’s most unequal country. Because of its history, politics, geography, and natural resources, Cape Town is a compelling location from which to examine the tensions, contradictions, and consequences of the global development agenda, and allows for deep insight into the implementing the Sustainable Development Goals within complex socio-economic contexts. Learn from case studies delving into the core issues of development practice, such as community analysis and assessment; local participation in project design and implementation; and the methods and tools for monitoring and evaluation.
Excursion highlights may include:
Malawi will provide you with an ideal case study for analyzing the ongoing and occasionally contentious discussions among members of government, civil society, and local citizens on development initiatives. Of particular significance to your master’s degree will be the exploration of the ways in which cultural traditions, drought, ecology, migration, and international aid regimes affect agricultural enterprises and natural resource management in an environment of increasing climatic uncertainty.
Excursion highlights may include:
Click here for a description of the SIT center in Malawi.
Please note that in order to take advantage of dynamic learning opportunities, program excursions may occasionally vary.
Upon successful completion of the program, students will be able to:
Following are some examples of past capstone projects:
A cornerstone of SIT’s Development Practice master’s program is the practicum. This will allow you to apply learning from the classroom directly to real-world settings, while getting hands-on, professional experience you can put to immediate use after you graduate.
For your final semester, SIT and your advisor will support you in finding an approved practicum in a role and location of your choice, aligning with your career goals. This practicum experience will give you the opportunity to work in the field, as well as expand your professional network.
During the practicum phase, you will remain engaged with faculty and other students and receive course credit for documenting the integration of your knowledge and skills while working in a professional context.
You will be supported by SIT staff on location in arranging housing during your time abroad. Stay in small hotels (shared or private); guest houses or hostels (these are simple, inexpensive and quite clean, and may even include food); or ask to be placed with a homestay family, where you will be able to immerse in the local culture and customs. Please note homestay families are less expensive, but also less independent.
SIT’s Student Financial Services Office provides guidance on all aspects of funding your degree throughout the application process and during your degree program. Tuition costs vary by program and scholarships are available.
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