Upload
partners-of-the-americas
View
226
Download
2
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Â
Citation preview
Professional Fellows Congress Unites Global Leaders in Washington, DC
D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 3
ProFellows Digest
Inside This Issue:
● Program Snapshot
● Fall 2013 Highlights
● American Outbound
Highlights
● Media
240 young profes-sionals from 50 coun-
tries and territories con-vened in Washington, DC, November 6-8, 2013, for the Professional Fel-lows Congress. The Congress marked the culmination the Fall 2013 Professional Fellows Program, managed by ECA’s Office of Citizen Exchanges. Participants, working in the fields of Economic Empowerment, Media, and Legislative Affairs, completed intensive month-long fellowships across the U.S. designed to expand their professional expertise and understand-ing of American society.
The Congress provided an opportunity for the Fel-lows to share best prac-tices in their respective field, gain key insights into effective leadership mod-els, and explore solutions to challenges across inter-national borders. The Congress included professional development workshops, an Ambassa-dor’s Luncheon with
representative from 31 embassies, a “Global Issues” panel discussion with senior State Depart-ment officials from all geo-graphic regions, and the always popular poster
showcase featuring 110 presentations by more
than 140 participants.
ECA’s Assistant Secretary
Evan Ryan presented Professional Fellows Distinguished Alumnae Awards to Australian climate change expert Olivia Coldrey and to South African disability rights activist Betty Mokoena for the positive contributions they’ve made in their communi-ties as Professional Fel-lows alumnae. Read more about their work here. The Professional Fellows Program is built on
partnerships with public and private sector organizations. Here’s what some of our many partners are doing: Connecting young
political leaders from around the world in bi-partisan exchanges.
Empowering grass-
roots community organ-izers to create more in-clusive communities for persons with disabilities.
Promoting free and
transparent media through fellowships in American newsrooms.
Stay Connected
and Join the
Conversation:
@ProFellows
#ProFellows
Friend Request
“Pro Fellows”
Check out the Professional Fellows
PD Toolkit to
learn more about the Division, its programs,
and staff
ProFellows Digest: Program Snapshot Page 2
ProFellows Digest: Program Snapshot Page 3
Connect. Collaborate. Create.
Expanding Professional Capacity
Connecting Global Leaders
Fellows from Egypt, Tunisia, Israel,
Turkey, Georgia, Pakistan, India, and
Bangladesh exchange professional expertise,
discuss shared challenges, and network during
the Professional Fellows Congress.
Advancing U.S. Foreign Policy
The Professional Fellows Program spurs new ideas, new experiences , and lasting partnerships
between individuals and organizations around the world.
Economic Empowerment Fellow, Lan Dang
from Vietnam, explored cooperative business
models for sustainable economic development
during a visit to the Sunlight Gold mine in
Whitehall, Montana.
Exploring Culture and Society
During his fellowship with the Mission Moun-
tain Food Enterprise Center and Sheep Farm in
Montana, Sayvisene Boulom from Laos
has a chance to explore the beautiful American
outdoors and to go fishing in the Flathead River
with his American mentor, Will.
U.S. Ambassador McFaul hosts reception for
Legislative Fellows from Russia to discuss
ways the embassy can collaborate with and sup-
port their work as Department of State
exchange alumni.
ProFellows Digest: Fall 2013 Highlights Page 4
Professional Fellows in Action
Legacy International Professional Fellows from
Egypt, Libya and Tunisia briefed Members of
Congress and staffers on the political, economic,
and social dynamics in their countries following the
Arab Spring. The role of women, civil society and
youth in forging a democratic way forward was also
discussed. Representative Betty McCollum, whose
office hosted one of the Fellows, provided opening
remarks and thanked the State Department for
sponsoring this exchange program.
Executive director of the Russian Association for
Entrepreneurship Education, Denis Matvienko, was
hosted by Florida State’s Institute for Global Entre-
preneurship where he explored American approaches
to innovation and shared valuable insights about the
similarities and differences between the Russian and
American approach to growing small businesses.
Denis spent time observing the institute’s student
business incubator, InNOLEvation Accelerator, and
met with a number of faculty members to gain an un-
derstanding of developing an entrepreneurship cur-
riculum at the university level. Read more here.
Photo: Nong Thi Ngco in the rural Montana land-
scape outside the city of Missoula
Nong Thi Ngoc, advisor to the Pro-Poor Partnership
for Agro-Forestry Development in Vietnam, was
hosted by the Jefferson Local Development Corpora-
tion in Whitehall, MT, where she worked with small
businesses to explore promotion strategies with local
artisans and farmers. Nong also had a chance to
meet with local and state government agencies to
discuss public-private partnerships in economic de-
velopment. Based on her Fellowship, Nong has de-
cided to create her own lending organization on a
community development model to support entrepre-
neurs in her province of Bac Kan, one of the poorest
in Vietnam and home to her Tay ethnic group.
Photo: Fellows briefing in Rayburn House Office
Building, Washington, D.C.
Photo: (from left) Doug Tatum, Denis Matvienko,
and Randy Blass, Director of the Institute for Global
Entrepreneurship and Dennis’ U.S. mentor
ProFellows Digest: U.S. Outbound Highlights Page 5
While in Tunisia, a delegation of American entrepreneurs with
the University of Michigan participated in the "Google Week for
Entrepreneurs" at Espirit University in Tunis with Professional
Fellows alumni. Three members of the delegation led workshops
on visioning and strategy, collaborative workspaces, and fran-
chising. The Michigan team's participation was organized by
Sonia Barbaria, a Fellow in the spring of 2013 who was hosted
by Google in Ann Arbor.
Maureen Ramirez, Policy and Research Director at
Growth & Justice in Minnesota, traveled to San
Salvador, El Salvador, to work with the Instituto
Social de Democracia (ISD). During her fellowship,
Maureen worked with ISD to assist the University of
El Salvador to comply and understand the Public
Informational Law, passed two years ago, which re-
quires all organizations that receive public funding
to disclose information to the public. Maureen was
able to compare and contrast the efforts made by the
University of El Salvador and the University of
Minnesota.
During his exchange in Thailand, U.S. Fellow Josh
Slotnick visited Project for Agroecology Development
and Plant Genetic Resources Conservation (AGRECO/
PGRC) in Suphanburi. The project was founded by Pro-
Fellow alumni Payong Srithong to improve the liveli-
hood of Karen indigenous people as well as marginalized
farmers through ecological farming and appropriate
management of natural and cultural resources. Josh
exchanged his experiences in organic farming and com-
munity-supported agriculture, and even learned how to
harvest rice at Payong's farm.
Americans At Work Abroad
Photo: Maureen with representatives of University of
El Salvador and ISD.
Photo: UM delegates at Google Week in Tunis.
Photo: Josh talks food security with Payong at a farm
on the Thai-Burma border
Participant Blogs:
Yabao Xue, China
Bassem El-Hady, Egypt
Peter Ridge, New Zealand
Baraka Bashir, Nigeria
American Journalists, Kenya
Live from California’s City of
Rancho Cordova, Mayor
Linda Budge interviews
Aphakorn Trairekpan from
Songkhla, Thailand, and
Wang Jingbo from Beijing,
China!
Fellows in the Media:
From Russia and back with
insights into U.S. Innovations
and entrepreneurship.
From Ghana to Austin: An
African Journalist on ACL,
Floods & More.
Home from Africa with a new
understanding.
Rancho Cordova Hosts
International Fellows.
American Fellow on advancing
human rights in Georgia.
“They arrived in the midst
of the government shut-
down, which although
chaotic and unusual, was
a great learning
experience.”
Read More
Sample Tweets:
.@Trairekpan gathers ideas to im-
plement a green city
in #Thailand through @ECAatState
#ProFellows exchange. http://
goo.gl/3yLZc5
A glimpse of #Kenya through the
eyes of American journalists
on @ECAatState #ProFellows exch
ange: http://goo.gl/
MKwhHn. @ICFJ
Bassem El-Hady from Egypt ex-
plores innovation and entrepre-
neurship
with @DellHomeUS during @ECA
atState exchange! http://
goo.gl/5M8Dbx
For more information,
please contact
Alana Rudkin
ProFellows Digest: Media Page 6
Learn More