Each semester, Hamilton Lugar School Global Consulting (HLSGDC) complete a consulting project for an international development organization. Through this opportunity, students:
Gain valuable professional skills including leadership, teamwork, organization, and more!
Network with other students and international development organizations
Contribute meaningfully to an international development project
Each semester begins with an orientation and training where students meet the client and learn about the project to be completed. They also gain knowledge about the context of the work and skills necessary to complete the project. Throughout the semester, students meet once a week to discuss progress and plans for the upcoming week.
Participation in HLSGDC can be combined with internship credit
Time Commitment:
The beginning of the semester includes a few meetings for training and orientation (approx 7 hours)
During the semester, students spend about 5 hours a week on the project, weekly meetings with their team (approx. 1 hour), two larger group meetings (approx 2 hours), and a Tobias Center Research Symposium Presentation
Spring 2025 Meeting:
Learn more about HLSGDC and our Spring 2025 projects on Wednesday, January 15th at 6pm in GISB Room 1060!
Previous projects:
CareerPath Uganda In this project, HLSGDC consultants are researching what career fields look like in Uganda to begin the research for CareerPath’s Career Helpline. This team will collect all of their information to be put into an app that will be available for students, parents, teachers, and employers.
Salvaging Jobs and Local Economies through the Just Energy Transition (Diplo Lab) This team is working alongside the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa by conducting case studies to gain insights on effective measures and improvement to ensure a truly “just” energy transition process. This information will be used to assist the government, communities, and other stakeholders.
Sporos Institute GDC Consultants will research why a kitchen is needed to support and advance refugee women in Lesvos using the crops harvested from their field. The project proposal can be circulated among donors and investors and can be used as a template when grant opportunities arise.
Technology Integration with The Hijabi Mentorship Program HLSGDC students are exploring how technology can be integrated to better support THMP’s mission, they are looking at technologies THMP already utilizes as well as others they can add. This team will create a deliverable that will suggest different technologies and how they can be used.
Assessing the Impact of Sauti Ya Dada
In this project, HLSGDC will support the monitoring and evaluation of Sauti Ya Dada, a girls’ leadership development program in East Africa. Students will analyze qualitative and quantitative data to help Creative Action Institute better understand the impact of their programming.
Americans in the Arctic: Understanding Greenlandic Cruise Ship Travel and What to Do When Things go Wrong
In this project, HLSGDC will investigate the Greenlandic cruise industry and analyze the potential risks involved. The team will develop a creative deliverable to help stakeholders visualize and understand this information.
Exploring National Bodies that Prevent and Address Torture with Recommendations for Egypt
HLSGDC students will conduct case studies of how different countries established National Preventative Mechanisms as set out in the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and make recommendations for stakeholders in Egypt.
Improving Rural Livelihoods with Honey Sales
Pueblo a Pueblo trains rural coffee farmers in Guatemala to produce honey, but have limited capacity to support the marketing and sales of the honey. HLSGDC students will work with PaP to set up infrastructure so that beekeeping farmers can sell their honey locally.
Analysis of WASH Policies towards Mexico and Middle Income Countries in Latin America
HLSGDC students will write a policy memo analyzing international development and aid policies about water and sanitation towards Mexico.
Green Guardians: Fostering Understanding of Waste Management and Segregation Among Middle Schoolers in India
Waste segregation (trash, recycling, compost) is a relatively new concept in India, which historically has not done waste segregation, which makes it difficult to implement in communities. HLSGC will develop a curriculum for 6-8th graders that will educate them on waste management and foster a culture of being conscious about waste and waste systems in children in order to increase community participation.
Gaining Independence on the International Stage: A Guidebook for the Autonomous Bougainville Government
A non-binding referendum in Papua New Guinea has granted independence to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville; yet stakeholders are unclear what is needed to become an internationally recognized independent country. HLSGDC will draw on recent experiences and international law to develop a guidebook on what needs to be done both internally and on the international stage to become a recognized independent country.
Learning for Global Development: A Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Framework
HLSGDC will develop a comprehensive MEL framework that GDC students can use for ongoing strategy monitoring, program evaluation and learning.
Project 1
The Partner: The Hijabi Mentorship Program, Kenya
The Project: HLSGDC reviewed and edited THMP’s internal policies and created suggestions for them to both improve and become more competitive for grant and funding opportunities.
Project 2
The Partner: The High Atlas Foundation, Morocco
The Project: After reading through HAF data, HLSGDC students developed themes and coded a large collection of oral history data. Students created a dashboard to visualize and organize the materials.
Project 3
The Partner: People’s Radio Myanmar
The Project: HLSGDC conducted research and interviewed with Burmese development workers in order to create short podcasts that will raise awareness to the democracy activism and development work taking place in Myanmar by Yone-Htwat-Soh-Mon.
Project 1
The Partner: The Hijabi Mentorship Project, Kenya
The Project: HLSGDC conducted a landscape review of global funding opportunities available to the client and created a guidebook to support their fundraising initiatives
Project 2
The Partner: Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, El Paso, Texas
The Project: HLSGDC conducted country condition research to support the detained deportation defense team who provide legal services to indigent asylum seekers.
Project 3
The Partner: Education Organization in Mexico
The Project: HLSGDC worked with the organization to identify their impact and visualize it in the form of an internal dashboard.
The partner: Reclaim Childhood, a sport for development organization based in Jordan, which works to empower women and girls through sport.
The project: HLSGDC conducting a monitoring and evaluation audit by organizing and analyzing 5 years of data and reports. Based on this analysis, HLSGDC provided recommendations for how to organize their data and how to improve its monitoring and evaluation practices.
Leadership:
Co-chairs: Morgan Short and Skyla Hernandez
Recruitment Co-Chairs: Malena Fisk and Mahi Patel
Project Managers: Cooper Kleinmaier, Ava Kayser, Rebeca Marqueda, Harper Strahan, Grace Anderson
Orientation/Events Coordinator: Mayah Ringo and Elena Laguna
Partnership Coordinator: Annabel Prokopy
Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Coordinator: Brian Cabral
Communications: Cassandra Chor
Faculty Advisory: Elisheva Cohen
Interested? Apply today!
HLSGDC is open to undergraduate students across IU. Applications for the Spring 2025 semester open on Monday, December 16th, and are due on Friday, January 17th. Those selected are expected to participate in a mandatory orientation on Sunday, February 2.
