New data sources and AI offer global development organisations the opportunity to work more effectively towards the Agenda 2030. Despite its positive potential, new ethical concerns are emerging, such as data privacy and algorithmic bias. This course provides an overview of the potential and challenges of AI for organisations aiming to contribute to sustainable and equitable development.

This course introduces students to key statistical methods for analyzing social science data with a special emphasis on causal inference and policy evaluation.

Introduction into the basics of resource utilisation. It analyses aspects of demographic change, discusses political, societal and economic factors and models of sustainable resource utilisation and analyses national and international instruments of environmental protection.

This course starts with a broad conceptual and historical perspective on technological and scientific innovation, and then focuses on concepts, theories, and methods for policy analysis as well as their application to policy questions in a variety of issue areas.

Doctoral candidates from all ETH departments, whose research is related to global sustainable development issues, and conducting research in low- or middle-income countries are invited to give a presentation about their on-going work and discuss their doctoral project with a diverse group of researchers.

The training course provides an introduction into strategic schools of thought that are important in current theoretical discussions and policies of development cooperation.

This course is an introduction to theoretical and empirical discussions on economic development, with a focus on the challenges of developing countries over the last 50 years. The course provides answers to the following questions: How can and should development be measured? What factors drive economic growth and contribute to poverty reduction?

Introduction into basic theoretical and empirical aspects of economic development. Prescriptive theory of economic policy for poverty reduction.

This course takes the UN as a starting point to acquaint students with key competences decisive for effective international policy-making to address the most pressing issues of humanity. These include intercultural negotiation, mediation and complex problem solving skills. Participants receive the opportunity to exchange with UN staff, diplomats and civil society members engaged with the UN.

The course conveys basic knowledge of methods and instruments for the financial management and the economic analysis of development projects. Case studies and exercises are used to make students familiar with methods and instruments of financial management.

This course presents the orgins and evolution of the International Development Cooperation during the last six decades und relates the changing paradigms to their political and socio-economic contexts. It looks at the different actors with their spefic roles, approaches and challenges from a Swiss as well as a global perspective.

The course provides an overview of the links among sanitation, water supply, waste management and environmental and health aspects. It gives an understanding of the specific challenges and possible solutions in ensuring environmental services and illustrates their impact on the population and settlements.

The course gives an introduction to the most important methods for rigorous impact analysis of development programs and projects. The course is designed to both cover the most fundamental methods of impact analysis and introduce real world case studies from national, international and non-governmental development organizations and asks how rigorous impact analysis has influenced their policies.

Globalization and technological progress in recent decades have on the one hand reduced inequality and led to new forms of inequality on the other hand. The question is whether these new forms of inequality lead to more inequity. This course provides an overview of the current philosophical and economic discourse on inequality and injustice.

The course discusses different actors and instruments of International Development Cooperation to reduce global poverty.

In this lecture series, students will learn from researchers around the globe about technological interventions designed to improve human well-being for complex, low-resource settings. Students will get familiar with frameworks from social sciences and engineering, helping them to understand and evaluate the discussed technologies and to put them into a broader context.

The course will start with a discussion of how development can be defined and measured. Students are then introduced to classical and endogenous growth theory and the role of capital, technology, governance, education and health for economic development. Students will also gain an in-depth understanding how various forms of market failures lead to poverty and the policies

PhD students working in empirical development economics will present their ongoing work, with a particular focus on the methods (to be) used and challenges faced. Participants are expected to read the drafts/papers/presentations beforehand and give constructive feedback to the PhD student presenting.

This course introduces students to key methods for quantitative policy impact analysis and covers the different stages of the process. Acquired skills are applied on a real project from a development organization. Students also learn how to perform simple statistical analyses with the statistical Software R.