Community Engagement

A course designed to expose students to a variety of contexts in which economists work within the fields of development, in higher education, in public policy and with government agencies.

Striking the right balance of reflection and action is a delicate art. Engaging with communities towards social change can potentially add the component of praxis to theory. The Community Engagement track is one component of the Internship track which is an optional track available to all Economics Master’s students who would like to engage in action outside of the classroom.

A stated mission of the University is to enable students to work towards a just, equitable
and sustainable society. One of the primary ways of doing this is to engage in action and
public engagement – working with communities and organisations towards realising these
objectives. While theoretical classroom learning equips students to get a macro picture of
challenges, rooted engagement is critical for students to navigate the complexity of praxis.
The credited community engagement within the MA Economics program will provide the
opportunity to do so (along with the credited internship course).

The summer internship allows students to engage with civil society organisations towards
a specific social or environmental goal. This exposes students to the working of
organisations working for social change.

The community engagement course builds upon the learnings of the internship course. It
allows students to engage in self-initiated action aimed at bringing about an improvement
in some social or environmental outcomes, plan the action along with the relevant
community and stakeholder, and execute the action. It also allows students to engage in
action which supports an existing project. By doing so, it enables students to learn about
the processes involved in engaging with communities towards planning and executing
interventions and the skills required for the same. Similar to the internship course, it
allows students to examine the practical application of theoretical concepts and skills
learnt in class, and critically reflect upon the challenges of engaging social change.