Purdue’s International Programs in Agriculture (IPIA) welcomed a group of 25 Mandela Washington Fellows to campus for a six-week summer program for the first time since 2017. The Mandela Washington Fellowship (MWF), the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), empowers young African leaders through academic coursework, leadership training, mentoring, networking, professional opportunities, and local community engagement.
Since 2014, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and IREX has supported nearly 5,100 Mandela Washington Fellows from across Sub-Saharan Africa to develop their leadership skills and foster connections and collaboration with U.S. professionals. The cohort of Fellows hosted by Purdue was part of a group of 700 Mandela Washington Fellows hosted at 27 educational institutions across the United States. Purdue has hosted four years of cohorts, starting with the first in 2016 and one virtual year during the pandemic in 2021.