Fellowship Alumni and Participants

Across Sub-Saharan Africa and the United States

Alumni and Reciprocal Exchange Participants Selected for 2022 CDAF Grants

The Mandela Washington Fellowship is pleased to announce that four Fellowship Alumni and Reciprocal Exchange Participants have been selected to receive grants for the 2022 Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF).

The CDAF grant competition provides small grants to empower U.S. citizens of U.S. government sponsored exchange program to build on their exchange program through public service projects. The 2022 competition was the most competitive to date, with applicants submitting project proposals covering a wide range of topics, including strengthening democratic institutions, protecting the environment, bolstering outreach in underserved communities, building community through arts, sports, language, and technology, and fostering alumni network development. This year, two teams comprised of Fellowship Alumni and Reciprocal Exchange Alumni were among those awarded.

CDAF is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and Office of Alumni Affairs and implemented by Partners of the Americas, a non-profit, non-partisan organization. Learn more about CDAF.

The Fellowship Community’s 2022 recipients and projects include:

Implementing a Strengths Mindset to Build Resilience in Africa, organized by Lorraine McCamley (2020 Reciprocal Exchange Participant) and Sènou Samson Francis Degbegni (2019 Fellowship Alumnus, Benin), seeks to build and pilot a strengths-based leadership curriculum that can be used to train NGO leaders across Africa to improve the positive mindset and resilience of their constituents. The project leaders are from the United States, Benin, Uganda, and Tanzania, and will leverage the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) network for feedback regarding the program curriculum. The ECAN Tanzania NGO, operating in Manyara, Tanzania, will host the pilot program.

Uganda Women’s Beekeeping Cooperative: An Initiative for Economic Empowerment and Environmental Conservation, organized by Kathryn Kutzner (2017 Reciprocal Exchange Partner) and Diana Nalwoga (2014 Fellowship Alumna, Uganda), will address the lack of economic opportunity for women in Uganda as well as promote environmental conservation through beekeeping. Fifty women and girls in Mukono, Uganda will participate in a five-day training on the basics of beekeeping, cooperative models, and financial literacy. The overall goal of this project is to equip women in Uganda with the skills, resources, and knowledge to engage in a beekeeping and honey cooperative that will increase their income, improve their livelihoods, and contribute to a stronger and more climate-change resilient environment.

You can read more about the 39 teams of grant winners and their projects in this press release from the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Congratulations to this year’s recipients!

Next Story