Americans and young African leaders address global challenges

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Dec 15, 2016, 08:00 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of State and IREX are pleased to announce the 26 Americans selected to receive Reciprocal Exchange Awards as part of a new component of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.

The Reciprocal Exchange Awards allow American professionals to travel to sub-Saharan Africa to collaborate on projects with Mandela Washington Fellows who participated in the program this summer. Through these projects, Americans and young African leaders form lasting partnerships and increase mutual understanding across the United States and Africa.

The Reciprocal Exchange component awards up to $5,000 to each American to help fund ongoing projects between 2016 Mandela Washington Fellows and American professionals. Fellows met the Americans through site visits, networking, internships, and other parts of the six-week Academic and Leadership Institutes in the U.S. during the Fellowship.

Through these competitive awards, 26 Americans will travel to 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for up to two weeks in 2017. The Reciprocal Exchange Awards will support diverse projects that address a wide array of global and community challenges.

American awardees include the following individuals from across the U.S., traveling to the following destinations in sub-Saharan Africa:

Destination Country	American Name	American Location	Project Topic
Benin	Brian MacHarg	North Carolina	Civic Engagement Education
Botswana	David Gordon	New York	Disability Advocacy
Burkina Faso	Dan Shalmon	Illinois	Youth Empowerment
Cameroon	Lindsay Yeager	New York	Feminine Hygiene
Ethiopia	Dimy Doresca	Iowa	Agriculture
Ethiopia	John Lumkes	Indiana	Agriculture
Ethiopia	Rudy Hightower, II	Ohio	Mental Healthcare
Kenya	Betty Watts	Virginia	Health Education
Kenya	Brandon Kliewer	Kansas	Disability Advocacy
Kenya	Susan Gold	Wisconsin	Health Education
Kenya	Tee Thompson	Michigan	Agriculture
Liberia	Joseph Deng Malual	Wisconsin	Women Empowerment
Madagascar	April Reed	Arizona	Disability Advocacy
Madagascar	Teena Curry	Maryland	Financial Management
Malawi	Maia Donohue	Texas	Entrepreneurship
Malawi	Kathryn Kutzner	Pennsylvania	Women's Empowerment
Mauritius	Alexander Anthony Lopez	New Hampshire	Waste Management
Niger	Brian MacHarg	North Carolina	Civic Engagement Education
Nigeria	Tanikka Mitchell	Illinois	Technical Training
South Africa/ Ghana	Chenits Pettigrew	New York	Arts & Education
Tanzania	Estella Hunt	Nevada	Technology Training
Tanzania	Esther E Gottlieb	Ohio	Agriculture
Tanzania	Jason Mackenzie	Indiana	Alternative Education
Zambia	Bryan McGarvey	Indiana	Agriculture
Zambia	Ryan Dion Taylor	California	Alternative Energy
Zimbabwe	Gina Haney	California	Arts & Cultural Programming

A second round of Reciprocal Exchange Awards is anticipated to be announced in late December 2016. These will further strengthen lasting connections between Americans and Fellows, both personally and professionally, to benefit their communities in the long run.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). The Mandela Washington Fellowship brings young leaders to the United States for academic coursework and leadership training and creates unique opportunities in Africa for Fellows to put new skills to practical use in leading organizations, communities, and countries.

For more information, visit yali.state.gov/washington-fellowship. You can also get updates at Facebook.com/MandelaWashingtonFellowship and Twitter.com/WashFellowship.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship is a program of the U.S. government and is supported in its implementation by IREX.

CONTACT: Erin Powell, 202-628-8188, [email protected]

SOURCE IREX