SPP's capstone program was called the "Passion Project" until 2016-17, when it was relaunched as the "Applied Policy Project." Previous Passion Projects have addressed a broad range of policy-relevant topics, working with a wide range of policy actors across sectors, and producing a variety of outputs.
SPP's Passion Project clients for 2013-15 are:
BRAC
Students will research government policies related to primary school education in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Uganda, South Sudan, and the Philippines to better understand how BRAC's work can be improved to streamline the transition of students from BRAC schools to government schools in these countries. The team will also make recommendations on how BRAC can best work with and influence government education policy.
Center for Conflict, Negotiation and Recovery (CCNR)
The student team will research and develop mechanisms to bring refugees into the policy process surrounding reconstruction of cities after warfare, with a specific focus on Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Freedom Now
Students will work to mobilize partners in the European Union institutions and the EU Parliament who will assist the organization in helping individuals who have been wrongly imprisoned in violation of international law. Students will assess the individual EU member states and their activism on human rights issues, analyze EU institutions and their suitability for advocacy, and recommend the EU member states and types of initiatives that Freedom Now can do on behalf of Prisoners of Conscience.
Global Witness
Students will examine and create community-focused recommendations related to how aid donors have supported, are supporting, or can more effectively support participation and consultation of local actors in efforts to improve transparency and accountability in the management of oil, gas, and mining.
Institute for Integrated Transitions
Students will conduct research and analysis to help create the first-ever Navigation Guide on International Assistance in Political Transitions. This unprecedented knowledge tool is being developed in partnership with Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Vice-President Thomas Carothers and with SPP Faculty member Robert Templer. It aims to assist national policymakers and civil society leaders get the best out of the complex world of international technical and financial assistance that accompanies periods of transition out of conflict or authoritarian rule.
Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI)
The student team will work with NRGI's capacity building team around developing practical research solutions that can support NRGI's applied work. As part of NRGI's renewed focus on youth, students will map out youth organizations and identify key messages and entry points for engaging organized and informal youth in Myanmar, especially through social media. This project will inform NRGI's engagement with youth in Myanmar.
Transparency International (TI)
Students will be researching and developing good corruption indicators that will help TI and the government of Slovakia to better guard against corruption in State Owned Enterprises. The work will focus on Slovakia's SOEs but results will aspire to be generalizable and ready for use beyond the country.
UK Department for International Development (DFID)
Students will be analyzing data to build up DFID's evidence base in Sudan. Students will also produce reports using rigorous academic criteria and combining quantitative data with insights from other sources to generate in-depth understandings of public perceptions and attitudes in Sudan.