I. What is the Public Policy Capstone?

The capstone is an integral component of the Phase IV learning experience. It is intended to allow participants, working in groups, to conduct an analysis of an important public policy question facing the Government of India. It will also serve as an evaluation device for Phase IV faculty and administrators to gauge the quality of participant performance. Participants will work on their analysis throughout the eight week program. Beginning in the first week, participants will be given their group assignments, their policy topic and start the process of examination and research that will be necessary to produce a comprehensive policy analysis document. Classroom sessions are designed to be complimentary and provide additional information to assist participants and all program faculty are prepared to consult and provide guidance to each group as their work progresses. (A detailed schedule for the completion of the capstone may be found below.) The Phase IV program concludes with a public policy conference that will be held in Delhi at the Foreign Service Institute. The three day conference is dedicated to presentations on the results of the analysis that have been conducted by each group. The group presentations will be made to expert panels comprised of Indian Government officials and faculty representatives from IIMB and the Maxwell School.

II. Public Policy Capstone Schedule

Because of the short and demanding Phase IV schedule it will be important for participants to plan their time carefully to complete their analysis and be able to submit a final document that reflects the collective wisdom of the participants within each group. The schedule that follows lists firm dates for the completion of tasks associated with the capstone process. There are no exceptions to these deadlines.

1. Prior to the program: Participants will be contacted by email and will be asked to indicate three policy area preferences they would like to work on in the capstone. Participant preferences will be used by Phase IV faculty to make capstone small group assignments. Every effort will be made to assign participants with shared policy interests to the same small group. It is anticipated that each group will have approximately seven-eight participants will be formed for the capstone exercise.

2. Week I: A detailed briefing on the capstone will be given by Phase IV faculty on the first day of the program (April 21st). These sessions will allow participants to ask questions and to clarify individual and group responsibilities. Phase IV participants will be informed of what group they are in based on the email they sent regarding their choice of topic. Each group will have approximately 7-8 officers. Participants will be given one more chance to choose their topic areas before the groups are finalized at the end of the day on Tuesday, April 22, 2008. Each group will be responsible for emailing a page identifying the group leader and one paragraph about their topic by noon on Monday, April 28, 2008 to ias.phase.iv@gmail.com.

3. Week II: Each group emails a one-page outline for their policy analysis paper on Thursday morning, My 1st to ias.phase.iv@gmail.com. The one-page outline should have a few sentences and bulleted points that address each section of the Capstone Project as listed in the Capstone Project Structure (Section IV of this document).

4. Weeks III and IV: Groups meet regularly to conduct research and analysis and consult with faculty following the guidelines located in the “Capstone Writers Guide.” On Thursday, May 15th each group submits a final draft of their capstone paper to the following email address: ias.phase.iv@gmail.com.

5. Week V: While in Korea, each group’s final draft will be reviewed by IIMB and Maxwell School faculty to assure that each document fulfills all requirements of the process. Participants will have some time to work on their individual Korea Reflection Papers.

6. Week VI: While in Korea each group will receive faculty comments on their draft analysis.

7. Week VII: Each group finalizes their Capstone project.

8. Week VII: Each group makes its presentation and also turns in group evaluations.

III. Key Dates and Deadlines

Dates for Tasks

1. April 21: Small group assignments; public policy question given to each group; capstone briefing; and, first small group meetings to discuss public policy assignments.
2. April 22: Capstone groups are finalized.
3. April 23 – 25: Groups will meet on their own time to discuss their paper topics.
4. April 28: Each group needs to select a group leader and write a one paragraph description of their paper. This information needs to be emailed to ias.phase.iv@gmail.com by 6 p.m.
5. May1: One page capstone policy paper outline due. (To be submitted electronically - ias.phase.iv@gmail.com).
6. May 15: Final draft of the capstone policy paper due. (To be submitted electronically - ias.phase.iv@gmail.com).
7. May 29: Faculty comments on capstone policy paper sent to each group electronically.
8. June 10: Groups are required to submit an electronic copy of their PowerPoint presentation and final capstone policy paper to ias.phase.iv@gmail.com.
9. June 11: Group presentations of capstone policy paper analysis.

IV. Capstone Project Deliverables

The required capstone project deliverables are as follows:

1. Policy Paper: Each group will turn in their policy paper. The Policy Paper is the core of the Capstone project. The paper will be reviewed by select faculty from IIMB, Maxwell and LBSNAA. It must have an executive summary and all sources must be cited. The papers will then be turned over to the Ministry of Personnel and a hard copy will be kept in the LBSNAA library.
2. Policy Paper Presentation: Each group will make a presentation of their policy paper during the last week of the program.
3. Team Evaluation: Each member of a policy paper group will evaluate the input of their fellow group members. Team Evaluation forms will be given to each group prior to the end of the program. Members of the teams producing outstanding policy papers will be recognized with a formal letter of recognition, a copy of which will be placed in the officer’s permanent file.

V. How will the Capstone Projects be Evaluated?

Presentation 30 %
Peer Evaluation 10%
Capstone Paper 60 %