Higher Education Solutions Network - Quarterly Report

The initiative aimed to inform solutions to development challenges through research and collaboration with USAID missions in these countries. ConDev, a program within the HESN, made significant progress in the first quarter of 2014. The program initiated activities on all three of its main objectives, including informing solutions to development challenges, identifying development solutions, and expanding the community of problem solvers to address development challenges. ConDev worked with the USAID missions in South Sudan, DRC, and Afghanistan to propose projects aligned with the missions' objectives. The program also finalized a standard process for evaluating prospective Innovations, Technologies, and Approaches (ITAs) for development challenges. In addition to its work with USAID, ConDev partnered with the Bush School of Public and International Affairs at Texas A&M University to create a capstone project assessing the effectiveness of a public versus a private health clinic in Butembo, DRC. The project aimed to evaluate the success of a training program at a youth center focusing on teaching former child soldiers and homeless children vocational skills. ConDev also engaged with the TAMU community, hosting capstone projects and hosting guest lecturers. The program worked with the School of Rural Public Health at TAMU to develop capstone projects and provided a workshop on geocoding for interested students. ConDev also supported the Big Ideas competition at UC Berkeley by recruiting faculty and students to participate in the competition. The program selected two winners for the Student Media Grants Program (SGMP) award, one student researching natural resource conflicts in Nicaragua and another studying nutrition in Mali. ConDev also hosted various student events, including seminars, lectures, and seminars, to engage with the TAMU community. Overall, ConDev made significant progress in the first quarter of 2014, addressing development challenges in South Sudan, DRC, and Afghanistan through research, collaboration, and community engagement.