The Graduate Program in Social Development and Management (PDGS) has been operating since its inception at the School of Management of the Federal University of Bahia (EAUFBA). Founded in 1959, EAUFBA is one of the first three institutions in the field of management that were implemented in Brazil. With extensive experience in teaching, research, and extension, it has a staff of stable and recognized workers and professors in their areas of competence. EAUFBA has modern and adequate infrastructure for the performance of educational and research activities.
The Professional and Interdisciplinary Master’s Degree in Social Development and Management, which has been operating since 2006, is an organic development of the activities carried out within the scope of the PDGS, which, since the late 1990s, has housed research groups and maintained connections with professors from various units of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and other institutions nationally and abroad.
Historically, over 150 masters have graduated at the PDGS. Classes are offered both based on society’s demands, which result in support for its operation, and on self-funding free classes. The program seeks to support the training of strategic leaders for social management and contribute to the formation of a qualified staff of social managers who can act competently in civil society organizations, governments, companies, interorganizational systems, networks, and other institutions.
PDGS Identity
The PDGS is a consolidated initiative recognized for its contributions to the training of specialized staff and for its importance in the dissemination of social management as a research object and as a social transformation instrument. This is the first graduate program in Brazil exclusively dedicated to this theme, and the only one in the State of Bahia. Historically, PDGS trained technicians and managers from public and private sectors, social entrepreneurs, activists, politicians, and leaders of associative organizations and social movements. The target audience for the master’s degree are professionals from different fields, who work or wish to work as public administrators, leaders, and entrepreneurs, in different contexts (various spheres and territorial scales of governments, policies, etc.).
The program concerns with social development, mainly focused on the territorial dimension. The PDGS purpose is to support the training of strategic leaders for the social management of development to contribute to the formation of a qualified staff of development processes managers, who can act competently in institutions linked to organized society, companies, and governments.
The Program focus on training managers with the capacity to develop social management technologies and lead transformation processes of the relations between the State, market, and civil society, contributing to the reconfiguration of public space and the establishment of effective public-private partnerships and good practices of territorial governance. Several social management technologies have been conceived and implemented owning to the several graduating classes of the professional master’s degree. During this fruitful journey, the stimulation of innovation and the production of social impacts was prioritized. Thus, our educational culture is marked by innovation and social relevance.
The PDGS provides an academic and learning environment that encourages managers to develop skills, aiming at: To analyze contexts, processes and impacts; prepare and manage actions, projects and programs; To promote socio-territorial governance and manage conflicts.
The program innovated with the creation of an original social technology – called Social Residency (Residência social) – and also with the promotion of training and Teaching Residency. Several master’s graduates stand out in leadership and impactful positions in different spheres of government, organizations and companies. Some students obtained significant awards for their professional performance marked by entrepreneurship, relevance and social innovation.
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