Rob Watson Email & Phone Number

Cambridge, Ma, Us

Cambridge, Ma, Us

Cambridge, Ma, Us

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Us

Co-teaching the 4-credit course A314: Collaborative Action for Children:Redesigning Education for Equity with Professor Paul Reville during the Fall 2022 term.Course Description: Eighty percent of children’s waking hours and all the rest of their lives are spent outside of school, yet society expects schools, alone, to level the playing field and create equal opportunity for all. It hasn’t worked. Urban and rural communities are coming together now to design systems of opportunity and support to tackle the effects of poverty and enable each child to take full advantage of high-quality schooling. How do elected officials, community leaders, parents and others concerned about children’s well-being collaborate to mitigate the effects of poverty and improve child and youth outcomes? This a class devoted to conceiving and developing a vision and strategic plan for a broader, deeper education system featuring comprehensive, integrated systems of education, child development, health and human services and out of school learning. We will begin by identifying the limitations of our current school system, which despite extensive reform, has failed to close achievement gaps and produce excellence and equity in American education. The course focuses on place-based initiatives, collaborative action to create holistic, child development and education systems. The class will build understanding of the challenges involved in creating, community-based systems that meet children - and families - where they are and provide the support they need to succeed inside and outside of school.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Us

Head Teaching Fellow for HGSE Course Led by Professor Paul Reville Course Description: Eighty percent of children’s waking hours and all the rest of their lives are spent outside of school, yet society expects schools, alone, to level the playing field and create equal opportunity for all. It hasn’t worked. Urban and rural communities are coming together now to design systems of opportunity and support to tackle the effects of poverty and enable each child to take full advantage of high-quality schooling. How do elected officials, community leaders, parents and others concerned about children’s well-being collaborate to mitigate the effects of poverty and improve child and youth outcomes? This a class devoted to conceiving and developing a vision and strategic plan for a broader, deeper education system featuring comprehensive, integrated systems of education, child development, health and human services and out of school learning. We will begin by identifying the limitations of our current school system, which despite extensive reform, has failed to close achievement gaps and produce excellence and equity in American education. The course focuses on place-based initiatives, collaborative action to create holistic, child development and education systems. The class will build understanding of the challenges involved in creating, community-based systems that meet children - and families - where they are and provide the support they need to succeed inside and outside of school.

The PLS program brings together bold and principled leaders from across the U.S. who are committed to addressing critical issues both domestically and around the world. During the six-month program, scholars learn about leadership through the lens of the presidential experiences of George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Lyndon B. Johnson. I’m thrilled to build with a transformative group of peers and civic leaders from across the nation working to advance the public good and reinvigorate democratic life.

Partnered with the Mayor of the City of Poughkeepsie, the Poughkeepsie City School District Superintendent of Schools and community stakeholders to create the city’s first-ever children’s cabinet. The cabinet is a collective impact organization that convenes leaders and executives from the faith-based community, philanthropy/business, City & County Government, nonprofits & community-based organizations, hospitals/health networks, elected office and the Poughkeepsie City School District (board members, teachers, families and youth) to develop a citywide cradle-to-career agenda for children, youth and families.Co-facilitated a partnership with the Harvard EdRedesign Lab for Poughkeepsie to join its By All Means cities consortium. Through By All Means, Poughkeepsie will receive a range of support from the Education Redesign Lab at Harvard, including assistance to local consultants and staff of the Poughkeepsie Children’s Cabinet; connecting Poughkeepsie leaders with national experts and social impact organizations; promoting exchanges with By All Means cities; and contributing to the documentation and evaluation of Poughkeepsie’s efforts through case studies and reports.The Poughkeepsie cabinet is a member of the Local Children’s Cabinet Network, a national initiative of the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Education Redesign Lab, The Forum for Youth Investment and the Children’s Funding Project.Co-organizer of The Poughkeepsie Summit at Harvard. This event was the first of its kind and convened key stakeholders across sectors on community development areas of strategic importance for the City of Poughkeepsie.Harvard By All Means advisor to the City of Poughkeepsie; leading the design and launch of citywide working groups in early childhood education; out-of-school enrichment and learning; college, career and civic readiness; integrated health and human services.

Spearheaded a partnership with Lead for America to launch a new citywide AmeriCorps-sponsored Fellowship program that attracts recent college graduates and young professionals from the Poughkeepsie and Hudson Valley region to one-year full-time public service placements to work on issues of community development with local social impact organizations.Awarded AmeriCorps New York grant to place 10 Hometown Fellows in local anchor institutions.Launching a citywide national service accelerator with the goal of by 2026, establishing 100 service year opportunities offered annually within the City of Poughkeepsie region. Selected to join Service Year Alliance Impact Community Initiative.

New York, Ny, Us

Strategic management and support to the IOP’s 16 student programs that engage 1,000+ Harvard College undergraduates. Development of civic and political engagement programming to inspire students to careers in politics, public service and social impact.Staff lead for the development of a Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging framework across all IOP student programs.Co-designer of a new IOP-affiliated course, "Politics, the Greatest Art," a General Education course at Harvard College. Spearheaded the launch of a new public policy practicum in collaboration with the Harvard College Government Department.Staff co-chair of the Harvard Votes Challenge, a university-wide initiative geared towards increasing student voter participation across Harvard’s 12 degree-granting schools; established partnerships with students, faculty and staff across all Harvard schools; spearheaded a new initiative with the Dean of Students office at Harvard College to integrate voter registration with the goal of increasing Harvard College’s voter registration rate from ~78% to 95+%; Developing Boston Votes initiative to institutionalize student voter readiness in Greater Boston high schools and school districts. Spearheading partnerships with higher education civic engagement networks, civil society organizations, federal, state local and international government agencies.

Coordinator of the Harvard Votes Challenge (HVC), a non-partisan, university-wide effort challenging each of Harvard’s 12 degree-granting schools to increase voter registration and participation among eligible students on their respective campuses. Developing a strategic plan for institutionalizing voter engagement and culture across Harvard schools in collaboration with student leaders, faculty and staff.

Boston, Ma, Us

The Social Impact Studio provides strategy and innovation consulting to strengthen the performance and impact of organizations creating value in the social space. We help ambitious leaders build high-performing organizations by bringing leading-edge insight and design to bear to solve complex challenges. Most often, we collaborate with clients to reimagine their mission, focus their strategy, design innovative programs, and develop the organizational capacity necessary to achieve audacious goals.Co-design of the World Bank Africa Early Years Fellowship, a competitive program to recruit and train a diverse cohort of young African professionals to support country governments and World Bank teams to increase high-impact scalable investments in early childhood development and improve outcomes for young children, with a strong focus on vulnerable populations. Strategy and innovation consulting to the FUSE Corps Fellowship, a national program that places mid-career executives in local government agencies across the United States to work for a year on high-impact community development projects.Strategy consulting for Inter-American Development Bank "Games for Good: Educating Policymakers about the Benefits of Civil Registries" Project in the Latin American region.

Co-designed an advocacy campaign plan and policy deliverables for the Foundation for Louisiana around cash bail, fines and fees reform in Baton Rouge, Louisiana through the Harvard Kennedy School "Creating Justice In Real Time: Vision, Strategies and Campaigns" course affiliated with the William Trotter Collaborative for Social Justice at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Us

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Us

Spearheading the inventory of public service, civic engagement and engaged scholarship centers, initiatives and activities across Harvard College; analyzing gaps and opportunities for a robust inter-school civic engagement agenda; developing alternative models for organizing pathways to public service and civic engagement careers for Harvard undergraduate students.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Us

Medford, Massachusetts, Us

Spearheaded the design process of The Tufts Civic Semester program that allows incoming Tufts undergraduates in the School of Arts & Sciences to spend a transformative first term abroad, combining for-credit academic coursework with a part-time internship at a community organization to create a unique experiential learning opportunity and a global kickstart to the Tufts college experience.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Medford, Massachusetts, Us

Designed an evaluation framework to measure civic identity, civic leadership and civic agency outcomes across undergraduate student programming.

Asunción, Distrito Capital, Py

Co-founded civil society organization forming part of the Global Teach For All network in 40+ countries originally founded by Teach for America and Teach First; spearheading efforts in fundraising and public-private partnerships for the 2017 launch of the organization, recruitment and selection of Teach for Paraguay Corps Members.

Stanford, Ca, Us

Boston, Ma, Us

Asunción, Capital, Py

Co-founder of the Paraguayan Government's first National Youth Service (NYS) Program, AROVIA Paraguay. The program places professional volunteers in 6 departments and 30 districts in prioritized extreme poverty regions to build capacity in local governments and community-based organizations.Senior Advisor to Paraguayan National Poverty Reduction Plan.Established strategic partnerships with national government agencies, municipalities, foreign governments, businesses, universities, international development agencies and civil society organizations to scale national service in Paraguay.Established south-south cooperation with United Nations Volunteers to strengthen national service infrastructure in Paraguay and exchange best practices with government officials from 10+ countries in Latin America.Convened 30+ national nonprofits and government agencies to draft Paraguay’s 1st national volunteerism law and develop lobbying strategies within congress. The legislation was signed into law by the President in 2018.Drafted a case study for Peace Corps Headquarters on National Service movements in Latin America and recommendations for the agency to support National Service efforts in host countries worldwide.Awarded a 100K USD research grant to measure the economic & social impact of the NYS Program through the National Council for Science and Technology.

Asuncion, Py

Co-designed national civil society network for sustainables cities in 12 paraguayan municipalities.Co-organized the first Paraguayan International Sustainable Cities Conference.Established strategic partnerships with government institutions (Secretary of Culture, Ministry of Interior, Secretary of Tourism, Secretary of Planning), civil society organizations, the private sector and international cooperation to enhance the network's financial sustainability, political and social impact.Investigate best practices for effective civic participation and innovative urban policies.Co-design of manual for cities representatives to create municipal level sustainable cities networks.

Washington, Dc, Us

Drafted a case study on the best practices of the Paraguayan capital, Asunción, in harnessing nightlife and the concept of 24-hour cities as strategies to revitalize historic city centers and public spaces.

Member of the organization team for the Latin American Street Art Festival, “Latido Americano” implemented for the first time in Paraguay with 40 international/local artists from Latin America and the USA to paint public murals in the historic downtown of Asunción. Fundraised ~525K USD for event in monetary and in-kind donations.

Led the organization of Paraguay’s second ever TEDx Conference for the first time in the historic downtown of Asunción with 8 local and international speakers on themes related to public spaces, community revitalization, violence prevention, public education, youth development and nightlife as a driver of urban transformation. Fundraised ~40K USD in monetary and in-kind donations for event implementation.

Co-design of Paraguayan National Service Program "Arovia Paraguay" for university students and young professionals in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Seretary of Youth, Secretary of Culture, Secretary of Planning and Secretary of Tourism along with support from the United Nations, Peace Corps, Servicio País Chile and several other international cooperation agencies. Co-design of National Service Learning curriculum programming for Paraguayan Public Schools with the Ministry of Education and the Latin American Center for Service Learning.Co-design and execution of city-wide tutoring program for high school and university students in the greater Metropolitan area of the Paraguayan Capital, Asunción. Co-design and execution of Corporate Volunteerism Program "Levanta Tu Escuela" dedicated towards improving infraestructure in Paraguayan Public Schools through strategic partnerships with the private sector. Advisor to the Ministry of Education on its Corporate Social Responsibility and Volunteerism programs.Co-Founder of Paraguay's first Corporate Volunteerism Network made up of various civil society organizations and business associations. Co-founder of lobbying group working to pass legislation to promote and incentivize volunteerism and public service in Paraguay. Co-design of National Community Organizing Plan in Education.

Us

Co-founded AVINA Foundation Sponsored Encarnación Sustainable Cities Network "Encarnación Sustentable" (Sustainable Encarnación). The network forms part of the Latin American Network of Just and Sustainable Cities made up of 70+ cities in ten Latin American countries. Co-published the first report on quality of urban life indicators for the city of Encarnación under the areas of: 1) Equity and Social justice; 2) Education & Culture; 3) Urban Planning; 4) Public Health & Environment; 5) Democracy and Transparency.Co-organized "Sustainable Encarnación" City Conference bringing together representatives from report local & national government, civil society and the private sector to discuss development trends, challenges and potential strategies for creating a more sustainable and inclusive Encarnación. Critical action areas linked to the network include:Increased political, social and economic inclusion through new models of public participation and the integration of new voices.Strengthening public oversight and social accountability through the implementation of common indicators to monitor progress and facilitate learning and information exchange among cities and countries.Promoting innovative urban practices by supporting effective pilot projects. Invest in training for urban leaders in order to promote citizen awareness and knowledge of urban issues.

Washington, District Of Columbia, Us

Co-founded Paraguay’s first volunteer networks, “Somos Voluntarios por un Paraguay Mejor” and the “Red Encarnacena de Voluntariado,” in the capital of Asunción and the city of Encarnación.Co-organized the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Paraguayan national volunteerism conferences for development. Co-founded the “Costanera Viva” initiative, a monthly open-air fair that seeks to promote the use of public spaces as a tool for community development. The event promotes fair trade, the sale of local arts, crafts, and healthy foods; and features open-air educational workshops, games and cultural performancesCo-founded the “Lawyer’s Probono Program,” an initiative that established an agreement between the Encarnación volunteer network, the Municipality, the Autonomous University of Encarnación, and community centers in the city to provide free legal and social counsel to low-income families.Co-drafted and executed the project “Che Encarnación,” dedicated to creating public and private sector support to promote and incentivize volunteerism in the city of Encarnación. The project was sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Co-drafted a grant application for a peer-to-peer sexual education program entitled “Presencia Joven.” The program was partially funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief fund (PEPFAR).Served as a member of Peace Corps Paraguay’s National Volunteer Advisory Council (NVAC), as the events coordinator. Served as a volunteer translator and co-organizer for TEDx Asunción, Paraguay’s first TED conference.Guest speaker on volunteerism as a tool for development, implementing sustainable corporate social responsibility programs and corporate volunteering to Paraguayan businesses.Co-organizer and assistant for Peace Corps Paraguay national initiatives: 1) Camp Glow for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls 2) Gender and Development Camp 3) The Community Economic Development Sector’s Youth Leadership Camp.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Us

Used Harvard Public Service Fellowship to promote and investigate sports and the arts as tools to empower low-income youth from the slums of the Santa Teresa neighborhood around issues related to public health, civic participation and community building.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Us

Counseled, mentored, and taught 6-8th grade male students from the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. Developed curriculum on mathematics, literacy, political advocacy, leadership, social justice, and debate skills. Generated weekly lesson plans and supervised camp-wide field trips.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Us

10 hours/week conducting studies (as a confederate and computer operator), data entry, data analysis, and recruiting participants for studies.Worked with impedance cardiography, electrocardiography, electromyography, peripheral measures, and electrogastrography.Co-executed studies in areas related to discrimination, stigmatization and the experience of emotion and its influence on behavior and judgment, and how stress influences on decision-making processes.Measurement of physiological responses as an index of emotion, motivation or intention.

Balvanera, Ciudad Autónoma De Buenos Aires, Ar

• Investigated government spending and public policies aimed at maximizing equity and growth in the country’s economy. • Examined the 2008 global food crisis, its impact on the Argentinian and Latin American economies as well as economic policies developing countries throughout the world were using to combat it.• Researched and presented reports on social protection programs in Latin America, best practices, and opportunities for the Argentinian context.

Mid-Career Master'S In Public Administration

Ed.M, Education Policy And Management

A.B., Psychology; Secondary Field In Economics; Spanish Language Citation

Postgraduate Diploma, Poverty, Development & Territory

Fellow, Summer Institute Of Civic Studies

Ciee Summer Study Abroad Program, Spanish Language And Culture

Education record