When President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Ilan Goldfajn gave his opening remarks at the IDB Annual Meeting in Asunción, Paraguay in March, SIS Research Professor Rachel Nadelman was pleasantly surprised to hear him cite her team’s research on civil society engagement. Mentioning AU and SIS several times, he dedicated about five minutes of his remarks to the work, citing the team’s findings and their importance.

“We’d run a workshop with about 70 members of civil society the day before the official Annual Meeting events started,” Nadelman said. “We knew the President would say something but hadn't expected this degree of focus or commitment.”

Crucial to Nadelman’s IDB work were two SIS graduate students: Maria Ardila Rangel, an MA student studying International Development, and Anushka Bose, a PhD candidate in International Relations. Rangel and Bose joined a team of international development professionals based in Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia.

Rangel, a Fulbright Scholar from Colombia, focused on qualitative research, conducting and analyzing interviews with IDB staff and civil society organizations, which allowed the research team to identify patterns and translate those insights into practical recommendations. Rangel’s experience working in development finance on the government side in Colombia, and her fluency in Spanish, proved valuable for Nadelman and her team.

“In Colombia, I worked in institutional reform and the design of local public policy that also involves engagement with local stakeholders from the institutional side,” Rangel said. “So I was excited to join this program to bring this perspective on the institutional side and the importance of the public sector.”

Bose, who also works with Nadelman on research projects at AU’s Accountability Research Center, primarily focused on background research for the IDB work, gathering literature from the last 10 years on civil society, accountability mechanisms, and areas of investment or growth in the Latin American region. For her, the most valuable part was visiting the IDB headquarters and meeting with the core research team to talk about the project.

“I was able to meet [Head of the Civil Society Group] Tatiana Schor and others on her team and really immerse myself in the environment to learn about what’s been happening with civil society in Latin America and how our team could help,” Bose said.

For Rangel, the opportunity to participate in work with a direct policy impact and utilize skills learned in the classroom has been invaluable, particularly since the results from the workshop interviews she helped conduct are being recognized by leaders and decisionmakers like [IDB President] Goldfajn.

“It has been really cool to put into practice all that I’ve learned from my classes in international development, like the role of communities at the local operational level and the importance of giving them voice in policy,” Rangel said. “The results from the research are actually influencing the decision-making process, and because of that you become more intentional in your work because you know the information and data you’re presenting and analyzing is being listened to or read by those in leadership positions.”

Bose similarly appreciates how the IDB project has tangible effects on the communities and people working in the space.

“Being a part of something like this has been meaningful because something every PhD student grapples with is, will my work matter in the real world?” Bose said. “For this IDB project, we’re trying to make real world impact, and that carries a sense of responsibility: you come at it in a different way than you would for purely academic research. You show up differently.

For Nadelman, involving students in real-world research projects like her work at the IDB benefits not only the students, but also the research itself.

“Our graduate student workers really bring a lot to the table and are helping to drive the work that we’re doing,” Nadelman said. “Student work is of course an opportunity for education and job experience, but they also need to make their own contribution, which Anushka and Maria absolutely are doing.”

This summer and fall, Nadelman, Rangel, Bose, and the AU/SIS research team will continue to partner directly with the IDB to develop a new civil society action plan, turning their research into a practical framework for more inclusive, community-centered engagement.