International Development

FACULTY: Lauren Stackpoole

TEAM: Nina Hassler, Kelsey Patterson,  Xuyan Zhou

CorpsAfrica trains and empowers young African leaders to serve in rural communities, fostering locally led development. As the organization has expanded rapidly over the past decade, ensuring consistency and accessibility in its operating manual has become essential. However, the manual was not user-friendly, difficult to navigate, and outdated, creating challenges that hindered operational efficiency, internal communication, and further growth. To address this, CorpsAfrica engaged the Capstone Team to redesign the manual, making it more intuitive, visually engaging, and easily accessible to staff. The team conducted a comparative analysis of similar organizational manuals, interviewed key stakeholders in person and via surveys to identify usability challenges, and applied human-centered design principles to restructure the content for clarity and ease of use. The final deliverable includes an interactive manual accessible via the Intranet for streamlined navigation and real-time updates while maintaining a refined version of the existing platform for continuity. This new resource will enhance future training, improve internal communication, and strengthen CorpsAfrica’s operational efficiency as it grows.

FACULTY: Lauren Stackpoole

TEAM: Karya Antmen, Joshua Chun, Jackeline Rodriguez, Nikola Stokuca

The Ek Kadam Aur (EKA) Foundation is a nonprofit organization working to dismantle structural barriers to education for visually impaired students across eight Indian states through its Arunodaya Program, which pairs students in remote areas with mentors to build literacy and numeracy skills for formal schooling. This work matters because expanding access to tailored educational support for visually impaired students is critical to bridging equity gaps and enabling long-term academic success in underserved regions. The Capstone team evaluated the Arunodaya Program’s effectiveness in Kolkata, West Bengal, and assessed its viability for international expansion. To do this, the team conducted 10 days of fieldwork, interviewing students, mentors, and administrators to identify success factors and replicable conditions. Final deliverables included a comprehensive report with recommendations for scaling the program, highlighting key environmental and operational criteria for successfully adapting to new contexts—equipping EKA to broaden its global impact.

FACULTY: Paul Smoke

TEAM: Silvana Jaramillo, Miranda Hazoury Lora, Samantha Serrano

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is a leading regional institution reducing poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean through health, education, and infrastructure initiatives. In 2022, the Dominican Republic enacted Law 368-22, mandating municipalities like Pepillo Salcedo to develop Municipal Development Plans (PMOTs) to guide sustainable growth. This work matters because equitable, climate-resilient urban planning is critical for addressing vulnerabilities in rapidly developing regions like Pepillo Salcedo. The Capstone team evaluated Pepillo Salcedo’s PMOT, focusing on its alignment with environmental protection, urban resilience, and inclusive economic models. To do this, the team conducted a literature review on land-use planning best practices, executed a site visit, and facilitated workshops with local stakeholders, IDB representatives, and Dominican government officials. The final deliverable was a standardized framework to assess PMOT quality, enabling the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development to ensure plans balance sustainability goals with local needs—strengthening nationwide urban development efforts.

FACULTY: Paul Smoke

TEAM: Tracy Cole, Alissa D'Vale, Jan Fan, Johannes Sahala

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) supports inclusive local development and climate adaptation through mechanisms like the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL), which channels climate finance to local governments in developing countries for locally led adaptation. In 2022, LoCAL was formalized into the ISO 14093 standard to scale up decentralized climate adaptation by providing a globally recognized framework for credible, accountable fiscal transfers. Empowering local governments to implement context-specific adaptation measures is critical for building resilience and ensuring equitable climate finance access. The UNCDF tasked the Capstone team with assessing ISO 14093’s relevance, utility, and implementation challenges, focusing on Uganda (LoCAL’s first pilot country). The team conducted a literature review on international standards and field research in Kampala (interviews with government officials, development partners, and UNCDF staff). It produced three deliverables: a literature review, a fieldwork report, and a final report. The final report provides recommendations for promoting ISO 14093 adoption, addressing government readiness concerns, clarifying certification processes, and outlining associated costs to facilitate decentralized climate adaptation.

FACULTY: Paul Smoke

TEAM: Mahira Khan, Ida Kusiima, Chengzhang Xu

The United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) serves as the Secretariat to the Development Cooperation Forum (DCF), the UN’s central platform for policy dialogue on international development cooperation to address global challenges like poverty reduction and sustainable development. This work matters because nearly 600 million people remain in extreme poverty, and a $4 trillion financing gap threatens progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), necessitating urgent reforms in development cooperation frameworks. The Capstone team was tasked with supporting the preparation, implementation, and follow-up of the 2025 DCF High-Level Meeting to advance actionable solutions. To achieve this, the team researched Official Development Assistance (ODA), analyzed the 2024 Development Cooperation Survey, developed country profiles, and documented discussions during DCF meetings and preparatory sessions for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4). Final deliverables included synthesized meeting summaries, survey analyses, and country profiles—providing critical inputs for UN DESA’s reporting and shaping the FfD4 outcome document to strengthen global development cooperation and financing strategies.

FACULTY: Paul Smoke

TEAM: Brian Angulo, Sergio Osnaya-Prieto, Shagun Suryam

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) works to strengthen social protection systems globally, including in Colombia, where it seeks to expand financial inclusion—access to and use of financial products—to advance human development. Financial inclusion is critical for reducing poverty and inequality, particularly in rural areas where barriers like high costs and economic informality persist. The Capstone team was tasked with studying the link between financial inclusion and human development to inform UNDP’s future programming in Colombia. The team interviewed representatives from Colombia’s financial inclusion programs, fintech sector leaders, and global experts on financial inclusion. Their analysis identified key barriers, including affordability gaps and rural informality, and proposed policy recommendations such as creating a regulatory framework to foster fintech innovation and improving financial literacy initiatives. These findings guide UNDP’s efforts in designing targeted strategies to expand financial access and drive equitable human development across Colombia.

FACULTY: Lauren Stackpoole

TEAM: Dantong Bi, Kimberly Yang

Violet Organization for Relief and Development is a humanitarian organization providing emergency aid and relief services in conflict-affected regions of Syria, including healthcare, education, and disaster response. This work matters because expanding advocacy efforts to the U.S. is critical to sustaining support amid heightened challenges, such as the 2023 Turkey/Syria earthquake and shifting political dynamics, which have strained Violet’s capacity to prioritize global outreach. The Wagner Capstone team was tasked with creating a U.S.-focused advocacy sourcebook to identify partnerships, resources, and strategies to amplify Violet’s visibility and funding. To achieve this, the team conducted on-the-ground research, mapped U.S.-based educational opportunities for Syrian students, identified donor networks and in-kind support channels, and curated media connections such as advocacy-aligned podcasters. The final deliverable included a comprehensive sourcebook with actionable recommendations and resource directories, equipping Violet to launch its U.S. advocacy program effectively while balancing urgent on-the-ground priorities.