University selected as one of 20 nationwide to offer six-week fellowship as part of Obama administration initiative
This week Rutgers began hosting 25 young leaders from African countries as part of an initiative launched by President Obama to help improve community affairs, enhance peace and security, and promote growth and prosperity across the continent.
Rutgers was selected as one of 20 universities nationwide to offer the six-week Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program as part of the President’s 2010 Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) to foster international dialogues, collaborations and partnerships.
The program at Rutgers will focus on building civic leadership to help young leaders who want to serve the public through nongovernmental organizations and volunteer or community-based organizations. Other programs will focus on business, entrepreneurship and public management for young leaders interested in serving in all levels of government.
Earlier this year, 500 African governments, nonprofit and private industry leaders from 22 sub-Saharan nations were selected out of 50,000 applicants to participate.
“We are thrilled to be a part of the Washington Fellowship Program of the Young African Leaders Initiative,” said Joanna Regulska, vice president for international and global affairs. “Engaging with young leaders is at the core of the Rutgers’ mission of research, teaching and service. By participating in this presidential program, the university has been given an invaluable chance to develop closer relationships with many countries of sub-Saharan Africa and build mutually beneficial networks between us.”
A partnership brings together Rutgers’ Centers for Global Advancement and International Affairs (GAIA Centers), Rutgers’ Center for Nonprofit Management and Governance and the Rutgers’ Center for African Studies. The collaboration has produced a jam-packed curriculum that not only infuses Rutgers’ excellence with the fellows’ native culture but also builds on their talents and facilitates an open dialogue on social issues.
The group of visiting fellows is comprised of participants representing vastly different areas of expertise, including media, education and political science, and the agenda, designed by academic director Ronald Quincy, covers such topics as historic leadership, organizational development and civic engagement. As part of the program, the leaders engage in classroom discussions with Rutgers faculty that focuses on the ways revolutionary civic leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. brought their ideas of social and political change to life.
The program goes beyond in-class training and demonstrates real-world applications of ideas through case scenarios, visits to iconic landmarks in New York and Philadelphia, cultural activities, community service projects and meetings with community leaders and university faculty and administrators.
“Rutgers’ participation in the Washington Fellowship Program allows us to be a part of a bigger movement to invest in a new generation of African leaders,” Quincy said. “The key to the program’s success is the fact that this is not merely a program for students in Africa to study in the U.S. This is a program for young leaders who have been identified by their respective countries, with the goal of returning to their home country to make meaningful contributions.”
The Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders began on June 16 and will run for six weeks.
For more information on the fellowship program, contact GAIA Centers public relations specialist Carissa Sestito at csestito@gaiacenters.rutgers.edu.