Georgia State Hosting Alumni Enrichment Institute for Mandela Washington Fellows

ATLANTA — Georgia State University has welcomed 25 distinguished young professionals from 19 sub-Saharan African countries participating in the Alumni Enrichment Institute (AEI) for the Mandela Washington Fellows, a program created by the U.S. Department of State.

Georgia State is one of eight 2022 AEIs across the U.S. The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies (AYSPS) is hosting the fellows during their two-week stay. They arrived in Atlanta Friday, July 22, after a week in Washington, D.C., for orientation and workshops.

“Alumni Enrichment Institutes are a new opportunity for our 2021 fellowship alumni to collaborate with each other and with their counterparts in Atlanta, and to continue building the professional and leadership skills they developed last year,” said Program Director Sharon Hill, a clinical associate professor at AYSPS.

The AEI is a unique new leadership training program that allows 2021 alumni of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) to engage in local site visits, community service projects, and cultural and social activities, many of which they’d missed during last year’s virtual program. In Atlanta, they will visit sites like the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, Invest Atlanta and Georgia State’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute. They will participate in community service projects with MedShare, the Andrew and Walter Young YMCA and the Multi-Agency Alliance for Children. They will also visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, the United Way and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

“We are honored to welcome these fellows to Atlanta, the Andrew Young School and Georgia State University,” said Dean Sally Wallace. “The program allows us to work with some of the most creative, game-changing young professionals from countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Their experiences here and in D.C. will enrich our mutual understanding of complex problems while we all forge and strengthen important networks of public management professionals, civic leaders, businessmen and women and social entrepreneurs eager to work together to make this world a better place.”

Since 2014, nearly 5,100 young African leaders have participated in the Mandela Washington Fellowship. The fellows, all between the ages of 25 and 35, are accomplished leaders who have promoted innovation and positive impact in their communities and countries. The AYSPS hosted 125 fellows on campus from 2015 to 2019. During 2021’s online Mandela Washington Fellowship, AYSPS hosted 30 individuals virtually.

NOTE: The Mandela Washington Fellowship is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. government and administered by IREX. Georgia State University is a sub-grantee of IREX and is implementing an Alumni Enrichment Institute as a part of the fellowship. For more information about the Mandela Washington Fellowship, visit www.mandelawashingtonfellowship.org.