Reflections on my first year at Harvard

This month, I completed my first year of the Master in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). As I am looking back, I realize this was one of the most formative and intense years of my life. I’m more than grateful for learning from the leading minds in foreign policy, security and economics, and studying among the most inspiring and diverse student body I have ever seen. I’m still trying to make sense of what I learned so far, and here are two takeaways.

Ask what you can do.

On my first day at HKS, they asked us: “What’s your why?” What is the one cause, community, concept, or code of ethics that is at the heart of your work? What do you actually care about?

My fellow students have very different answers. For some people, it is preserving what is dear to us, for example, our environment (climate change), our human dignity (human rights, justice) or our national security & peace. For some, it is advancing what we care about, for example, democracy or governance, scientific knowledge or wealth & welfare.

For me, it is fairness. I believe that everyone should have equal opportunities. (Crazy thought, right?) Of course, perfectly equal opportunities only exist in an ivory tower. However, I think our economic systems can easily create more equal opportunities, if we are willing to change the status quo. That’s why I …

• … do my research in development economics. (E.g. What are effective anti-poverty measures? If interested, talk to me about my master thesis on conditional cash transfers.)
• … care about how to make international organizations more effective. (How can institutions like the WorldBank and the IMF, or the WTO become better at their mission to better the world?)
• … politically engage in the fight against inequality & poverty.

Your Why can and probably will change many times. Yet, this act of reflection is powerful. It renewed my sense of purpose, and reminded me about the responsibility I feel towards the place and the people I come from, the place and the people I call home, and the places and the people that will be in the future. – Connecting past, present, and future.

That brings me to my second point. The right topic can give you a lot of energy. The right people can, too.

Find your tribe. Find the people and the type of work that motivates you and gives you energy.

For me, that is the community that works on gender equity. It inspires me to work with women and likeminded people on making the world a less sexist place. They are my role models. By seeing what other women achieve, you dare to imagine what you could do. Find yourself those people that make you dream. And then work with them.

It was an honor to be part of the “From Harvard Square to Oval Office Program” of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. It’s a cohort of women (and allies) who get trained and support each other to run for elected office. The workshop topics range from speech writing, over campaign strategies to funding. And sometimes we just talk about our fears, e.g. the loss of privacy or not being good enough, and how to overcome them. I often forget, that women need to be encouraged to run for political office far more often than men before they actually run. (Did you know that? I didn’t.) Its organizers Nicole, Raie and Lexi, and all guest speakers make the “Oval Office Programm” the world’s most efficient power house. Just put in some energy and you’ll get it back a hundred times. To all women at Harvard: join this program. To everyone else: find those spaces in your respective environment and use them to charge your batteries.

A similar place for me has been my job as course assistant for Professor Bohnet. She teaches “Behavioral Science for Inclusive Organizations” at HKS on how to use behavioral science to advance gender equity in organizations. Highly recommend! Thank you, Iris, for bringing your innovative and rigorous research to a supposedly “soft” topic, for teaching this essential class with all your heart, and for all the Swiss chocolate you regularly bring to class.

Moving into the next academic year, I am excited to co-chair “Women in Defense, Diplomacy, and Development” (W3D) together with Delaney Wehn. It’s a student organization at HKS that builds those spaces where you might find your tribe. Stay tuned for more info on our work later this summer.