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Competencies for Researching and Advancing Human Flourishing Self Assessment Tool

The Notre Dame Poverty Initiative will establish Notre Dame as a leading institution for poverty research. A core component is preparing students for careers and service in support of human flourishing, enabling them to turn evidence into action, illuminating proven pathways out of poverty for people around the world. The Pulte Institute for Global Development, as a core partner in the work of the Poverty Initiative, has developed a Self-Assessment Tool to aid in the holistic formation of students and partners. Utilizing our Competencies for Researching and Advancing Human Flourishing framework, this tool provides an accurate assessment of current strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement in the foundational skills necessary to carry out anti-poverty and human flourishing work.

This tool can be used by students, partners, groups, instructors, and advisors to provide an accurate mapping of current strengths and weaknesses in the essential skills for anti-poverty work, along with a roadmap for continuous improvement in necessary areas of growth. As a part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, the Pulte Institute is committed to a vision of human flourishing work guided by the principles of Integral Human Development. The self-assessment includes necessary technical skills, but also provides insight into soft skills like teamwork, cross-cultural communication, accompaniment, and servant leadership, among others. In addition, we have developed a mapping of online courses related to each competency.

Please complete this form to request access to the self-assessment tool for either individual use or for a group (organization, class, etc.). Group access provides aggregate results for review by instructors, project leads, and advisors.

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The self assessment tool was developed using a mapping of core competencies across four categories: Core Values, Professional Competencies, Technical Research Skills, and Technical Practice. The competency model was developed through careful review of existing competency models at leading anti-poverty institutions, such as the United Nations and the US Agency for International Development. Each competency has associated behavioral indicators which demonstrate the essential practices and skills a person would be capable of demonstrating if they have proficiency in that competency. These competencies and behavioral indicators are also linked to existing online learning content available to Notre Dame faculty, staff, and students. This list of associated resources will grow over time as new resources are developed and identified.

The following competency models were used in the development of the Pulte Institute model and the self-assessment tool:

  1. “The European Competence Framework for Researchers.” European Union, 2022. https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-04/ec_rtd_research-competence-presentation.pdf.

  2. “Civil Service, Foreign Service, and Foreign Service National Competency and Proficiency Catalog.” USAID, September 2017. https://pages.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/consolidated_cs_fs_fsn_competency_catalog_-_september_2017.pdf.

  3. “UN Competency Development - A Practical Guide.” United Nations Office of Human Resources Management, 2010. https://hr.un.org/sites/hr.un.org/files/Un_competency_development_guide.pdf.

  4. “Core Competency Framework Human Resource Management.” OECD, n.d. www.oecd.org/careers/OECD-Core-Competency-Framework.pdf.

  5. “MEAL DPro - Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning for Development Professionals Guide.” Humentum and Catholic Relief Services, January 2019. https://pm4ngos.org/methodologies-guides/meal-dpro/.

  6. “The 2018 AEA Evaluator Competencies.” American Evaluation Association, 2018. https://www.eval.org/About/Competencies-Standards/AEA-Evaluator-Competencies.

  7. “Standards for a Competency-Based Approach to Monitoring and Evaluation Curricula & Trainings.” UNAIDS, Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group (MERG), 2009. https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/sub_landing/files/13_8_MERG_Standards_Comptency-based_ME_CurriculaTrainings.pdf.

  8. Yeung, Euson, Stephanie Scodras, Nancy Salbach, Anita Kothari, and Ian Graham. “Identifying Competencies for Integrated Knowledge Translation: A Delphi Study.” BMC Health Services Research 21 (October 30, 2021). https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-021-07107-7.

  9. Rhem, Tony. “Knowledge Management (KM) Competencies.” The Knowledge Management (KM) Depot (blog), July 31, 2021. https://knowledgemanagementdepot.com/2021/07/31/knowledge-management-km-competencies/.