Americans and young African leaders address global challenges

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of State and IREX are pleased to announce the 26 Americans selected to receive Reciprocal Exchange Awards as part of a new component of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.

The Reciprocal Exchange Awards allow American professionals to travel to sub-Saharan Africa to collaborate on projects with Mandela Washington Fellows who participated in the program this summer. Through these projects, Americans and young African leaders form lasting partnerships and increase mutual understanding across the United States and Africa.

The Reciprocal Exchange component awards up to $5,000 to each American to help fund ongoing projects between 2016 Mandela Washington Fellows and American professionals. Fellows met the Americans through site visits, networking, internships, and other parts of the six-week Academic and Leadership Institutes in the U.S. during the Fellowship.

Through these competitive awards, 26 Americans will travel to 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for up to two weeks in 2017. The Reciprocal Exchange Awards will support diverse projects that address a wide array of global and community challenges. 

American awardees include the following individuals from across the U.S., traveling to the following destinations in sub-Saharan Africa:

A second round of Reciprocal Exchange Awards is anticipated to be announced in late December 2016. These will further strengthen lasting connections between Americans and Fellows, both personally and professionally, to benefit their communities in the long run.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). The Mandela Washington Fellowship brings young leaders to the United States for academic coursework and leadership training and creates unique opportunities in Africa for Fellows to put new skills to practical use in leading organizations, communities, and countries.

For more information, visit yali.state.gov/washington-fellowship. You can also get updates at Facebook.com/MandelaWashingtonFellowship and Twitter.com/WashFellowship.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship is a program of the U.S. government and is supported in its implementation by IREX.

CONTACT: Erin Powell, 202-628-8188, [email protected]

SOURCE IREX

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