Advisory Services

The Project offers advisory services at the request of tribal governments, other governments, and organizations working with Native communities. Graduate and undergraduate students produce pro bono policy-oriented consulting reports, and Harvard Project personnel provide strategic advice on a variety of public policy issues.

What is a PAE?

A PAE, or Policy Analysis Exercise, is a study of a public policy or management question by Kennedy School second-year Master's degree students under the guidance of a faculty member. The study is completed for a client who is seeking assistance regarding a policy question or who is looking for recommendations on issues their tribal organization is facing.

The Project PAEs deal specifically with the issues facing American Indian nations or organizations working in Indian affairs. Professor Joseph P. Kalt, a member of the Kennedy School faculty, counsels the student consultants. Assisting him are Project staff members who work closely with the students. These students offer pro bono assistance on issues that concern your tribe. Most of the candidates have three to five years of professional work experience prior to attending the Kennedy School for their graduate course work.

Through the years more than 400 of these topics of concern have been completed on everything from creating a Department of Justice at Hualapai to the feasibility of a cattle auction yard at San Carlos. Many of them can be found in our Research and Publications section. Browse through them and see what our student consultants have done. For your convenience, direct access to several of these reports is given below.

Garrow, Carrie E. and Mark A. Jones
"Jiway Gwavo The War Room:
Building a Hualapai Department of Justice"
(Size: 17.67M)
May 2000

99-3
Saavedra, Ronald T.
"Economics, Culture, Identity:
The Case of the Aquinnah Cultural Center."
(Size: 12.38M)
April 1999

99-2
Lemont, Eric and Cheryl Powell
"Crow Constitutional Development:
Empowering the Crow Nation."
(Size: 16.90M)
April 1999

Is there a deadline for submission?

We need to receive proposals no later than September 15 because the students must complete their projects by April 1.

How do I submit a proposal?

Email your proposal to Joe Kalt at joe_kalt@harvard.edu. In the body of the message, give brief answers to the listed questions, numbering each answer to correspond with the question.

  1. Your name and title
  2. Your organization
  3. Mailing address
  4. E-mail address
  5. Phone number
  6. A title for this project
  7. A one-page description, including background, of the problem or concern you would like our students to work on with you, your tribe, or organization
  8. A brief explanation of how you expect to use the final product
  9. Project size: would you prefer to work with one, two, or three students

Where can I find additional information?

For thorough coverage of the Program visit the PAE Home Page.

And if you have questions, do not hesitate to contact Joe Kalt by email at Joe_Kalt@harvard.edu.

Also available for your review are several samples of proposals. Topics covered in these samples are electric power and regulatory reform, budget planning, building a cultural center, urban center issues, land use planning, and homeownership program design. Project Proposal Samples (Size: 17K)

Are all submitted proposals assigned to a student?

The number of PAE proposals received by the Project typically exceeds the number of graduate students available to undertake a project. For this reason, we cannot guarantee that all PAE proposals will be selected, though the Project makes every attempt to match students' interests with prospective clients' requests. Students will contact you if they are interested in learning more about your PAE proposal. If you are not contacted by early October, your PAE proposal will be considered again the following year, unless otherwise specified.