ProFellows Digest Dec 2013

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.

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Conversation:

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#ProFellows

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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

([email protected])

ProFellows Digest: Media Page 6

Learn More