Through the Mandela Washington Fellowship at IU, 25 young African leaders from 18 nations became immersed in the life of the campus and the city of Bloomington. They participated in the Bloomington Farmers’ Market and marched in the city’s Fourth of July parade.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve introduced you to a group of enthusiastic young people from 18 African countries who are fellows of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.
The benefits of this program to these 25 visitors, participating in a program that is part of President Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative, should be obvious. But how does it benefit Indiana University and the surrounding community?
Teshome Alemneh, IU associate vice president for international development, said the answer is quite simple: IU’s participation in the U.S. State Department project demonstrates the university’s commitment to global engagement, including promoting people-to-people relationships.
It also aligns with other priorities outlined in the university’s Bicentennial Strategic Plan, including celebrating a vibrant and collaborative community of scholars and global engagement.
“It has been a helpful experience for them, but it also has been a helpful experience for us,” Alemneh said. “It’s become a two-way street where we have learned and they have learned.”
Raising awareness and boosting understanding
The program has helped many at IU and elsewhere in Monroe County to develop a greater awareness about Africa and its people, and to better understand the level of development there — not just the poverty that often gets portrayed.
“At all the places that we’ve visited, there has been really intensive engagement and interaction,” Alemneh said. “In terms of development challenges, I think many people were able to understand that the challenges that we face here and the challenges that they face in Africa are more or less similar. The degree, the intensity and the way that we address them might be different.”
Teshome Alemneh
The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders project is being coordinated by the IU Office of International Development, a unit within the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs.
Downtown Bloomington Inc. and the Bloomington’s Main Street Program worked with IU to arrange for tours at businesses and organizations, interviews with local leaders and other activities to show how Hoosiers approach projects and issues.
“I was recently reminded of how special this area is while sharing our stories with people from around our region and across the globe. They come to Bloomington to learn, and we learn from them,” said Talisha Coppock, executive director of both organizations, in a column for the Herald-Times.
May lead to future partnerships
The interaction over the past four weeks may lead to future collaboration. Alemneh said several faculty members have exchanged contact information and interest areas where they can work together with the Mandela Fellows.
For example, the Kenyan students were eager to learn more about the IU Kelley School of Business student projects that provide consulting support in their country.
“It was a great opportunity to meet with professionals from a number of industries and sectors. We are already talking with a couple of folks from Kenya and South Africa about how the Institute for International Business might be able to assist with projects and opportunities around entrepreneurship, business skill training and capacity building,” said LaVonn Schlegel, executive director of the Kelley School-based institute.
“This was a lively and engaged group. They asked pointed questions and were looking for ways to apply the ideas that were being presented,” added Fred Schlegel, a senior lecturer of management and entrepreneurship in the Kelley School of Business. “As they continue to develop ideas and programs that benefit their communities, I hope we can find ways to continue engagement.”
The Mandela Washington Fellows also met with Jon Racek, a lecturer in the Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design, who is the founder and executive director of Play360, an organization that helps build playgrounds in underdeveloped countries. Engagement between Play360, which also teaches people how to make and maintain playgrounds using locally available materials, is expected to continue.
This weekend, the fellows will leave Bloomington for a gathering in Chicago with other Mandela Washington Fellows from Purdue University, Northwestern University and the University of Notre Dame, and then spend two weeks at IUPUI.
On July 31, they will depart Indiana for Washington, D.C., and a leadership summit that President Obama is expected to attend.
After the Mandela Washington Fellows return to their respective countries, it is hoped that they will maintain ties with IU and help to bridge new kinds of relationships with governments and donor organizations that will encourage institution building, Alemneh said.
“IU is becoming really visible now in a way that it wasn’t in many (African) countries before,” he said. “I think they are going to become champions for IU.”
“I think they are going to go back and talk about the good things that they see here in Indiana, in Bloomington and in Indianapolis.… It’s an opportunity for us.”
After all, they are Hoosiers now.
