1. Occidental College
12 December 2013

2. connect with us!

3. about me

4. our mission
FSD achieves community-driven goals through asset-based
development and international exchange in Africa, Asia, and
Latin America.

5. our vision
FSD envisions a world where all people have the opportunity and
capacity to direct economic, social, and environmental resources
toward sustainable outcomes that improve their lives and
communities.

6. sites, sectors & programs
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PROGRAMS
•Capacity building of community partners
•Grants for community partner projects
•Training programs for volunteers
SECTORS
health
economic development
youth development
education
environment
appropriate technology
human rights
gender equity

7. by the numbers
300
242
$846,250
262
45
308
17

8. founding principles
• FSD was established 1995
• Alicia Robb, PhD in Economics
• Founding country: Nicaragua, 1995
• Invest in local leadership and organizations
– advance missions
• Community-driven, asset-based
• Reciprocity is key - development mission and approach drive all
programming and operations.
• Non-profit, social entrepreneurial model (not donor-driven)

9. community partners
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300 community partners across our 10 program sites
Dynamic leadership | Small staff size | Limited resources
Deep roots within the community
Beneficiaries are ‘poor’ or ‘extremely poor’- focus on marginalized
Already working in or willing to try our development approach

10. our value to partners
• Community strengths | asset-based development
• Sustainable, participatory program design and management
• Organizational and leadership development
• Seed funding and capital investment
• Partnerships and networking

11. our approach
Strengths-based, participatory development
Typology of power / ladder of participation: ABCD Institute, Arnstein
Sustainable
Community
Development
Community
as Clients

12. community partners

13. our team
Program Sites
Home Office
San Francisco, California

14. community-based development
Year-round support led by local Program Directors:
•Partnership development
•Beneficiary engagement / participatory approaches
•Project Design and Management
•Budgeting
•Monitoring & Evaluation
•Strategic planning
•Networking
•Workshops
•Training of Trainers
•One-on-one support

15. training programs
Intern Abroad
• Individual internship | 9-52 weeks
• Grant eligibility
• 4 sessions annually, multiple start dates
Global Service Trips
• Student and corporate group programs
• 1-4 weeks | Custom start dates
• Pre-departure project development
Group Engage
• 2-5 person groups | 6-12 weeks
• Standard or custom start dates
Pro Corps
• Professional volunteers | 2-52 weeks
Traveling Giving Circles
• 8-15 donors travel to FSD Partner Organizations inneed of project funding
• Participants decide how they will allocate their pooled
funds

16. training programs
Program Framework
• Pre-departure seminars (custom)
• Host family stays
• In-country orientation:
logistical, cultural, developmental
context
• Community development training
• Project work plan/budget development
• Grant proposal writing
• Continuing education seminars
• Reflection activities and midterm retreat
• Ongoing personal/technical support
in group and individual settings
• Debriefing/exit interviews
• Post program activities

17. university partnerships

18. what sets FSD
apart?
1. FSD is an international development organization that provides opportunities for
graduate, undergraduate, and bridge year students to engage in real community
development work—instead of a typical study abroad or drop-in service project
program.
2. Our programs are structured and supportive as we provide ongoing educational and
cultural activities, logistical support, and round-the-clock safety and security support
by our dedicated site team staff.
3. We offer rigorous participatory development, community engagement, cultural
integration, and project management training that students apply in the field.
4. We are as much concerned about community outcomes as student learning
outcomes.
5. Our program frameworks, values, and partnerships reflect our community outcome
priorities; this deepens the student experience through more critical reflection on
issues of power, privilege, social identity, and the role of international development.
6. Working year-round at our 10 program sites builds strong relationships with our host
families and community partners, making our programs safe and culturally
immersive.

19. training curricula/pedagogy
Program Goals
Complementing academic coursework goals, the fieldwork program supports
students in community-driven program work that enables students to be:
• Highly immersed in the local culture
• Engaged learners in global development issues and community-based
approaches
• Effective at designing and building collaborative educational and social
programs
• Skillful in adapting and displaying sensitivity to cultural, social and political
differences

20. training curricula/pedagogy
General Learning Outcomes
Complementing academic program Learning Outcomes:
•Demonstrate global competency in a developing country setting
•Demonstrate an understanding of varying approaches to community development
•Apply community-based development principles
•Use participatory approaches of community project design and management
•Expand perspectives of critical social and economic issues faced in the host
country, and of effective approaches to address them
•Understand application of community engagement approaches for home contexts

21. training curricula/pedagogy
• International development / foreign aid approaches
– Development paradigms
– History of participatory development
• Values-based discourse on ethics of engagement
– Social identity
– Motivation of participation
– Ethics case studies
• Cross-cultural/global competencies
– Fundamental patterns of cross-cultural differences
– Cross-cultural challenges and strengths
– Personal reflection techniques
• Group dynamics
– Personal assets/challenges
– Collaboration and teambuilding tools
– Intra- and intergroup communication*
Customized
seminars for
students,
faculty and
professionals

22. training curricula/pedagogy
Community-based development –
principles and practice
• Principles of community-based
development
• Project design & management
• Participatory design tools:
• asset mapping, stakeholder
mapping, appreciative inquiry,
positive deviance, participatory
action research
• Capacity/skills enhancement
• Appropriate evaluation
• Contingency planning
• Program sustainability factors

23. training curricula/pedagogy
Thematic Curricula
– Social entrepreneurship
– Global health
– Microenterprise
– Microfinance
– Education
– Youth development
– Gender Equity
– Environment
– Appropriate technology

24. strategic planning tools
Work Plan and Budgets (SMART)
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25. community-based tools
• community visioning
• stakeholder mapping
• ABCD: asset mapping
• ABCD: capacity inventories
• positive deviance
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• appreciative inquiry
• participatory monitoring &
evaluation
• participatory action
research
community mapping

30. sample community project
Intern Abroad
Location: Masaka, Uganda
Volunteers: Duke University students
Community Partner: Lwemodde Youth
Group (LYG)
Project: Expanding Solar Power
• Trained 15 members to understand, operate,
and repair their equipment; set up new
installations throughout the region
• Provided power to 10 local households,
enabling local students to study and
shopkeepers to earn more income
• LYG’s own internet café (nearest 1 hour)
• Serves two communities (population of 700)
• Expanding service

31. monitoring & evaluation approach & methods
Mission-driven Monitoring & Evaluation:
Community development goals and approach
drive programming and operations
Global Service Trip to Nicaragua
November 6-11, 2013
Are we achieving our mission?

32. evaluation & assessment
• Project Reports – 10-page narrative
• Grant reports & site team, educational
evaluations on proposals
• Program evaluations by participants – (300)
exit interviews; Google survey
• Exit interviews – evaluations of students by
site teams
• Evaluations of interns by host organizations
• University partner surveys & debriefings –
12-15 core partners
• Site Team reflection reports – 10 annual
reports
• Strategic Plan stakeholder input - surveys
• Sustainability Assessments – annual survey
of large sample of community partners

33. sustainability assessment results
77 organizations responded; 345 projects/initiatives

34. sustainability assessment results

35. sustainability assessment results

36. sustainability assessment results

37. sustainability assessment results

38. SIX WORD MEMOIRS
Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was
once challenged to write a story in only six
words. Hemingway's response: "For sale:
baby shoes, never worn."
We challenged FSD staff, partners, and
constituents to submit their own six-word
memoir that describes their experience as
part of the FSD community.

50. QUESTIONS?

51. connect with me!
Kevin Slattery
Marketing and Communications Officer
kevin@fsdinternational.org
LinkedIn: LinkedIn/in/kslatz
Twitter: @kslatz | @infofsd