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Sanford offers executive education programs for mid-career and senior-level professionals to enhance their skills.
Programs are offered on timely topics related to policy and leadership including corporate social responsibility (CSR), project appraisal and risk management, tax analysis, fiscal decentralization, and monitoring and evaluation. The programs give professionals the opportunity to learn from and share best practices with our faculty and other experienced international development practitioners from around the world, reaching professionals in more than 120 countries. Open enrollment and custom programs for organizations are available.
For questions, please contact the Executive Education staff at sanfordexeced@duke.edu.
ONLINE COURSES
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Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning for Development (MELD)
Summer, 2025
Effective monitoring and evaluation of programs remains both a challenge and priority in developing and emerging economies. It is a key element for successful planning and implementation of development programs in sectors such as health, education, agriculture, rural and urban development, and municipal services.
The two-week program on Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning for Development (MELD) helps participants learn the key steps and analytical tools to design and monitor programs and develop an analytical framework to evaluate their performance and outcomes.
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Behavioral Economics
Summer, 2025
Behavioral economics serves as a policy and program design framework that helps policymakers improve program effectiveness and achieve better outcomes.
This online course offers professionals from the public and non-profit sector the opportunity to learn about the latest findings in behavioral economics and focus on the tools needed to apply the framework to their own work. Working alongside Duke faculty and peers, students will apply their new knowledge and skills to a variety of sectors during the course’s immersive and engaging group project component.
Participants who complete this course will receive a course certificate from Duke University and the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy.
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Leading With: Community Engagement & Participatory Design
TBA
Online | 7:00 - 8:30PM (Eastern) Tuesdays & Thursdays
This three-week intensive course explores the theory and practice of community engaged leadership in public service. Beginning with an assets-based framework, we will explore how to build and execute meaningful community engagement strategies for partnership development, program design, and participatory governance.
IN-PERSON COURSES
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Cybersecurity Leadership Program
May 19-21, 2025
The Duke Cybersecurity Leadership Program provides leaders with the tools they need to address the next generation of threats. Board members and other executives will learn how to better execute oversight responsibilities, effectively manage risk, and prepare their organizations for the latest cybersecurity challenges.
This unique program combines the expertise of Duke’s public policy school, computer science department, engineering school, and law school. The program faculty includes not only subject matter experts from Duke, but also leaders who have managed and responded to cybersecurity risks at the highest level of industry and government.
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Project Appraisal and Risk Management
May 26- June 20, 2025
The four-week Project Appraisal and Risk Management training program teaches financial, economic, stakeholder, and risk analysis and risk management through real and applied case studies, lectures and group discussions.
The workshop takes you through a flexible appraisal framework designed to handle different types of projects, from infrastructure investments and social programs to commercial enterprises and utilities. It also covers a wide range of issues such as environmental impacts, risk management and poverty reduction. Leading experts in specialized areas are also invited to address participants. Additionally, you will work with other participants to complete a project in your own sector of interest.
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Tax Policy for Practitioners (TPP)
June 30 - July 25, 2025
Domestic revenue mobilization has gained renewed importance in the wake of economies recovering from the aftermath of a global pandemic, as countries need to garner their own revenues and more importantly estimate the revenue appropriately so that development plans can be chalked out efficiently.
In this program, you will develop the knowledge and tools required to analyze key tax policy issues and estimate tax revenues through a combination of lectures, case studies, presentations, and hands-on exercises. In this online three-week intensive course, we will impart to you the economic foundations of tax policy and revenue estimation models, with the latest updates in the field of taxation and public finance.
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Fiscal Decentralization and Local Government Financial Management
Summer, 2025
Decentralization reform strategies are being implemented worldwide to improve service delivery, economic governance, and citizen participation. This comprehensive three-week program is designed to better enable professionals to develop and implement decentralization policy reforms to improve local public financial management and stimulate efficient and accountable economic and social development.
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Custom Programs
The Sanford School of Public Policy partners with organizations and government agencies across the United States and around the world to design custom programs that meet an organization's critical needs. Past programming has covered a diverse range of topics including, public finance, tax and budgeting, monitoring and evaluation, cybersecurity, behavioral economics, governance for defense practitioners, and numerous other topics. The Sanford School's custom training programs bring together Duke University's best instructors and experts to create a superior learning experience.