Fellows will participate in an intensive five-week program at a university-based research and education center for disabilities in the U.S. They will learn innovative strategies to promote economic empowerment of individuals with disabilities through the growth of inclusive employment opportunities.
The Professional Fellows Program on Inclusive Civic Engagement is a professional program funded by the US Department of State for emerging leaders in Africa to exchange and implement best practices for inclusive civic engagement. The program will support approximately 19 disability rights professionals (Fellows) from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia to participate in a 5-week Fellowship Program in the US. Applications are due March 18, 2022.
As a Fellow, you can learn approaches to inform your efforts to build and strengthen fully inclusive civic societies for people with disabilities in your home countries. The core of the program is an individual Fellowship with a university-based research and education center for disabilities or similar host site organization in the US. As a Fellow, you will select a key policy or practice issue related to disability and civic engagement in your home countries. This policy or practice issue will provide a focus for your individual Fellowship placement training and will inform the project that you will design and implement upon returning home. The Fellowship training will also include weekly leadership seminars, mentorship, and community service.
- Begin your US Fellowship: Work with US host site organizations, such as university-based research and education centers, during your customized Fellowship placement.
- Develop a plan: Collaborate with colleagues from US host site organizations to design an individual project action plan that you will implement upon returning home (this is called the follow-on project).
- Sustain your project: After your Fellowship in the US, your US host might visit your organizations in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, or Ethiopia to facilitate project sustainability and long-term collaboration.