October 2, 2015

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders

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The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program of the President's Young African Leaders Initiative. Today's emerging African leaders are selected from throughout the continent to participate in six weeks of leadership training at top U.S. colleges and universities. Fellows focus on one of three areas: Business and Entrepreneurship, Civic Leadership or Public Management.
 
"I'm the public management track, so there's three tracks so basically we are coming here to learn a lot on leadership on governance and a lot in terms of in the public sector and ethics on so it's quite a broad wide range of things which can be able to help enhance mine and other fellows leadership skills." 
 
The presidential summit was a chance for the five hundred young fellows from Africa to meet each other and to meet with President Obama and also other leaders from public and private sectors. A select number of fellows continue to develop skills in U.S. workplaces for six weeks.
 
"After my completion of the fellowship I started my internship at the United States Institute of Peace my work shaped with my personality too, and I gained a lot of confidence, knowledge, and experiences that I didn't have before so it really helped me to become someone that I always wanted to be."
 
And upon their return home, fellows have access to ongoing opportunities and resources. The Mandela Washington Fellowship is designed to empower the next generation of African leaders.
 
"My name is Hlaganani Gumbi from South Africa and I'm a Mandela Washington Fellow."
 
"My name is Khadija Isse. I'm from Somalia and I am a Mandela Washington Fellow."
 
Visit MandelaWashingtonFellowship.state.gov