Ismael Yacoubou Djima (MPP ’13)

APP: Leveraging International Migrants’ Remittance Flows for Economic Development in Senegal (The World Bank)

Robert Pickmans, MPP 2013

APP: Improving Secondary Education in the Kingdom of Swaziland (The World Bank)

When Professor Jeanine Braithwaite announced the formation of a weekly study group to work on household data sets from developing countries, Robert Pickmans and Ismael Yacoubou Djima quickly submitted their resumes for consideration. Pickmans had recently returned from a summer visit to Peru, during which presidential elections had focused his attention on the myriad national political and social issues, especially candidates’ proposed education policy and programs for the underprivileged population. Yacoubou Djima grew up in Côte d’Ivoire and Togo, experiencing the social, political, and economic struggles of developing nations, and wrote his undergraduate honors thesis on “Estimation of the effect of trade on wage inequality in the U.S.A.” Both were passionate about using their rigorous quantitative training to study projects aimed at alleviating conditions in the developing world. The group examined the 2009-2010 Swaziland Household Income and Expenditures Survey (SHIES) and the 2010 Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS), and contributed to a World Bank report on using public transfers to reduce extreme poverty in Swaziland.

After spending their first year in the study group, Pickmans and Yacoubou Djima had the opportunity to work with Braithwaite on a research collaboration with UNICEF using SHIES and MICS to study children’s living conditions, attitudes toward HIV/AIDS, and access to preventative and reproductive health services. They traveled to Swaziland on a research mission over spring break their second year and presented their findings post-graduation in New York City to UNICEF headquarters staff. Currently, both Pickmans and Yacoubou Djima have research analyst positions with the World Bank. The study group has been formulated into a three-credit Batten elective on big household data analysis, which extends from fall to spring.

Kelly Connors (MPP ’13)

APP: Infrastructure to Promote Agriculture Development and Reduce Poverty in Rwanda and Swaziland (Deloitte Consulting LLP, Emerging Markets Practice)

When Kelly Connors accepted a position in the inaugural post-graduate MPP cohort at the Batten School, she had a slight advantage as a 2008 graduate of U.Va’s McIntire School of Commerce when it came to navigating Grounds. Following her undergraduate career at U.Va, she interned with Deloitte before entering the Peace Corps for a posting in the Democratic Republic of Congo that August. While in the Peace Corps, she served as a community economic development consultant for an artisan group composed of local ceramic workshop owners. Her consulting experience motivated her to start a nonprofit consulting group at Batten, the Formative Change Group (FCG). In recognition of outreach and growth during its founding year, FCG won the University-wide “Best CIO for Community Engagement” award for 2012-13.

While at Batten, Connors focused her projects and coursework on international-development topics and foreign policy in general, joining a weekly study group focused on data from developing countries, and dedicating her electives to international development classes at Batten and in other U.Va. professional schools. Her Applied Policy Project (APP) examined food security in Africa, focusing on Rwanda, Swaziland, and smaller landlocked areas, analyzing how they can reduce food insecurity by making different infrastructure investments to promote agricultural development. Deloitte served as the client for her APP, which developed into a full-time position as a federal sector consultant with the company following graduation.