Master of Science in Foreign Service

Rolf Sartorius is co-founder and President of Social Impact, Inc (SI) a consulting firm dedicated to improving the effectiveness of international development organizations and programs. SI focuses on creating conditions and skills to empower local groups and communities to take charge of their own development and social change.

For the past 15 years Sartorius has consulted globally for a wide range of international development organizations and local partners to enhance their capacity to produce measurable and enduring development results. He is a strong advocate for participatory development approaches and the use of local knowledge to improve development effectiveness.

Sartorius is a leading practitioner in the field of international development management, working in the areas of development project design, performance monitoring and evaluation, policy reform, organizational capacity building, strategic planning, team development, large group facilitation and the use of participatory methods for transforming organizations, programs and communities. Sartorius has worked in over 45 countries in Africa, Asia, LAC, and Eastern Europe, and has consulted on well over 1000 development projects in poverty alleviation, health, education, environment, democracy and governance, private sector development, microenterprise and macroeconomic reform. He also has trained several thousand development managers.

Sartorius’ clients include the World Bank, African and Asian Development Banks, a variety of UN agencies including United Nations Development Program, International Fund for Agricultural Development, FAO, and the Pan American Health Organization; USAID, the British Department for International Development; and a large number of NGOs, consulting firms and government ministries.

Before founding Social Impact in 1996, Sartorius was an independent international development consultant and prior to that he directed program evaluation for the American Refugee Committee.

Each year since 2000 Sartorius and SI have provided three Skills Clinics for the MSFS students leading to a Certificate in Development Skills. These clinics are modeled on training programs that SI provides to seasoned development managers around the world.

Sartorius is a graduate of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota where he studied International Development and Agricultural and Applied Economics. Sartorius has published articles and book chapters on development management. Outside of work Sartorius enjoys spending time with his wife and two children, cycling and other outdoor activities.