Southern New Hampshire University ICD 522 Microenterprise Development (3 credits) This course looks at the characteristics of the informal sector businesses that crowd the lowest rung of the economic scale and examines ways of assisting these income-generating initiatives of the poor. Students study ways to design and manage a financial and technical assistance intermediary to provide credit, management and organizational assistance to microscale economic enterprises. ICD 525 Practical Microfinance (3 credits) The course will cover a range of topics. These will include traditional financial systems, gender issues, the role of groups, ‘empowerment’, vulnerability and savings and micro-insurance, household cash flow analysis, the need for rates of return and interest charges, sources of funds, management information systems and technologies, impact measurement, institutional choices and the role of government and foreign aid. This course will use case studies, supported by readings and interactive on-line materials. Participants will also be expected to relate their own experiences and preferences as consumers of financial services to their examination of what is and can be offered to disadvantaged communities, not only in so-called ‘developing countries’, but also in their own neighborhoods. ICD 526 Financial Analysis for Management of Microfinance Institutions (3 credits) This course will enable participants with limited or nonspecialized accounting and/or financial management experience in microfinance institutions to learn fundamental knowledge on how to report, assess and analyze the financial performance of microfinance institutions/projects. The course will also build knowledge about the existing management support tools in this field and will build sufficient skills to use these tools for decision making. ICD 527 Performance Evaluation and Client Assessment for Microfinance Institutions (3 credits) This course presents a framework for managing and evaluating performance of microfinance institutions. Given the twin goals for these institutions, it is important to look at both financial and social performance as important parts of overall performance. This course focuses on social performance evaluation and management. Social performance management includes a strategy to set clear social goals and objectives, information systems to assess and monitor the progress towards achieving the social goals and objectives, and a system for using the information for operational and strategic decision making. The course also introduces toolkits (poverty assessment tools, impact assessment tools, product development tools and market research tools) that contribute to helping practitioners gain technical skills and techniques for making their programs more socially responsible and demand-driven. Classes will focus on applying learning to real-world situations and include presentations, case studies and group work. Participants will have an opportunity to focus on specific tools and develop an action plan for implementing those tools for their own institutions. The instructor provides feedback throughout the sessions.
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ICD 533a and 533b Principles, Practices, and Policy of ICD (2 credits each) The course will examine the evolution of thinking that has shaped the practice of community-based international development. Students explore development projects, programs, and policies that blend social practice and economic principles. The course exposes members of the class to some of the major scholars in the field through their writings. The first class in the series focuses on three substantive themes: definitions of development; ethics of development; and, hunger, famine and food policy. The second class in the series focuses on five substantive themes: poverty and inequality; international trade policy; environmental sustainability; democracy and globalization; and, participation and global civil society. Students will apply methods of policy analysis to analyze these themes from an ICED perspective. ICD 534 Training for Trainers (3 credits) This course covers principles and methods of adult education, helping students to be effective trainers when they return to their local communities. They will acquire a variety of teaching techniques for transferring specific development skills to members of their communities. ICD 535 Economics for CED (3 credits) This course is a survey of basic economic principles and their applications to community and public projects. The course is designed to equip students with a working understanding of economics to be used throughout their careers. ICD 536 Economics and Development (3 credits) The purpose of the course is to provide students with knowledge of macroeconomic development issues and opportunities facing developing countries with the goal in mind of equipping them with skills in situating grassroots, community economic development approaches and initiatives within the context of national, regional and global economic development concerns. Topics covered include; poverty and inequality, population and development, education and health, the environment, urbanization and rural-to-urban migration, rural development and agricultural transformation, globalization and international trade, and balance of payment, debt and foreign finance. Prerequisite: ICD 535. ICD 708 Co-ops and Credit Unions in International Development (2 credits) Cooperatives are “democratic economic associations for self help.” This introductory course is a hybrid of face-to-face and online meetings. It begins with an online tutorial introduction to cooperatives (Cooperatives 101) developed by the National Cooperative Business Association. This course follows with a field trip to cooperatives and co-op developers in Boston to introduce important examples of successful cooperative development. In subsequent classes we will elaborate on the various forms and applications of cooperatives to the problems of low-income communities, examine the impact of cooperatives as a development strategy, look at each type of co-op to examine the basic structure of ownership and governance of that model, the structure of capital, and