Under a program funded by the U.S. Department of State's Middle East Partnership Initiative, 25 emerging leaders from 15 countries in the Middle East are headed to the United States for a month-long fellowship at the Maxwell School. The Middle Eastern fellows will study the foundations of democracy before participating in a three-month, skill-building internship either in Central New York or Washington, D.C. The participants, men and women ranging in age from 25-40, will return to their home countries with new knowledge and skills to help foster positive democratic change.
While at the Maxwell School in February 2007, the fellows-representing Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, the Palestinian territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen-will participate in classes, lectures, panel discussions and simulations. The academic program will focus on comparative politics and the development of democratic institutions; leading and managing the democratic state; and citizenship, private action and private enterprise. The internships will provide the opportunity for participants to work in organizations that match their professional interests and provide a grassroots view of democracy in action.
"The Maxwell School has endeavored in the past few years to create new relationships and programs in the Middle East, and we are honored that the state department has chosen us from among dozens of other educational institutions to launch this important effort," says Dean Mitchel Wallerstein.
The group of fellows includes journalists, diplomats, political candidates, human resources experts and representatives of non-governmental organizations and think tanks. Among them: an architect and a member of the Egyptian Green Party, an HIV/AIDS specialist working in Lebanon for the United National Development Programme, a journalist who founded a news and media watchdog website in Yemen, a curriculum specialist in the Bahraini Ministry of Education and a human rights activist from Iraq.
Says U.S. Rep. Jim Walsh, in response to news of the award: "Congratulations to Syracuse University and the Maxwell School. The Middle East Partnership Initiative will no doubt get a huge boost from Maxwell's unparalleled expertise in public administration, democracy and good governance. I look forward to welcoming the impressive group of participants to Central New York."
The Leaders for Democracy Fellowship Program is part of the State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative, launched in 2002 to support democracy promotion, economic reform, quality education and women's empowerment in the Middle East. The initiative has invested more than $293 million in four years in more than 350 programs in 16 countries and the Palestinian territories.
