Blum Center for Developing Economies
The University of California, Berkeley
Blum Hall, #5570
Berkeley, CA 94720-5570
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blumcenter@berkeley.edu
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GPP Minor Requirements
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Declaring the Minor
Students submit a GPP Minor Declaration of Intent form online and schedule an advising appointment with a GPP advisor to declare the minor. There are no prerequisites for the minor.
Students are encouraged to declare by the following deadlines for priority enrollment in GPP courses for the following semester:
Spring 2025: April 3, 2025
GPP Minor Courses
The Global Poverty and Practice Minor is organized around three core and two elective course requirements in addition to the Practice Experience. The requirements must be completed in the following sequence:
Students will participate in the key theoretical debates about global poverty and inequality. This course will teach students about different models of poverty alleviation and methods for evaluating such models and practices. (4 units, offered fall semester and summer session)
Open to declared GPP Minor students only.
This course will expose students to a diversity of methodological frameworks and techniques and will also allow students to discuss, reflect upon, and debate the ethics of global citizenship. Students will work on projects and assignments that support preparation for their Minor Practice Experience. (4 units, offered fall and spring semester)
An individualized global engagement Practice Experience is the signature element of the minor, providing an opportunity for students to connect the theory and practice of poverty and its alleviation. This Practice Experience can take place domestically or internationally and there are two options for the minimum duration required of it:
1) Long term engagement PE: Complete a practice experience over the course of 6 months or longer, with a minimum hours requirement of 160 hours.
2) Intensive Short Term Engagement PE: Complete a practice experience in less than 6 months (typically over the course of 2-3 months), with a minimum hours requirement of 240 hours.
Field work completed prior to a student beginning GPP 105, while valuable to the overall educational experience, will not be considered for the Minor’s Practice requirement.
Students can complete the capstone requirement of the GPP Minor through one of the following options:
a) GPP 196: Reflection Course/ Group Seminar: Students reflect on their Practice Experience and explore how issues of global poverty and inequality will shape their future academic, personal, and career paths. The course challenges students to express what they have learned through public forums of debate such as op-eds, and allows students to develop practical skills through writing organizational reports. (3 units, offered fall and spring semester)
b) Complete a Thesis Course: Students who are completing a thesis seminar as a capstone for their major can petition to utilize this course to also fulfill the Minor capstone. To pursue this option, the thesis needs to meaningfully integrate a scholarly, pragmatic, or personal reflection of the student’s Practice Experience in his/her major field of study. Many students choosing to complete a thesis find it beneficial to also complete GPP 196 because of the support it provides for reflection on the Practice Experience. Students who use their major thesis to fulfill the Capstone Reflection requirement for the minor may not overlap any additional courses between their major and minor.
Required elective courses listed below may be taken at any time during that sequence, but will most benefit students if taken prior to the Practice Experience.
Two Directed Electives
Each student must take two directed electives that relate to the region and sector/method focus of their Practice Experience.
Directed Elective 1: Global and Area Studies
This elective prepares students for exploring poverty and poverty alleviation in a specific geographical or global context in which poverty and poverty action must be understood.
Directed Elective 2: Sectors and Methods
This elective trains students on the specific issues and skills associated with the many domains of poverty analysis and action.
View the approved Global and Area Studies and Sectors and Methods elective courses by semester:
*Students may only overlap one course between their Major and Minor. Overlaps between multiple Minors is not allowed.
**All courses must be upper division and taken for a letter grade.
Note: While language courses typically do not fulfill either of the elective requirements, we highly encourage students to take advantage of the many language courses offered at Cal to ensure they can adequately communicate with members of the community they will be working with for their intended practice experience.
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