New York, NY - The Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP) proudly announces the selection of its 2009 cohort of Fellows. This year’s cohort is IFP’s largest ever, with 553 Fellows selected from 22 countries. Of these, 178 Fellows are from Africa and the Middle East, 251 are from Asia and Russia, and 124 are from Latin America. To date, IFP has selected more than 3,800 men and women to receive grants for post-graduate study.  

 

IFP Fellows are emerging leaders from marginalized and excluded communities that typically lack access to higher education. Approximately half of all IFP Fellows are women; the 2009 cohort is 51% female. IFP selection committees in 22 countries assess candidates’ knowledge, skills and commitment to serving their communities.

 

“The Ford Foundation is immensely proud of the success and impact of the International Fellowships Program. When the program was launched by the foundation in 2001, some doubted that students from poor and marginalized communities could succeed in the world’s top universities, or perhaps thought that those who did would only add to ‘brain drain.’ IFP is shattering those myths. It is opening the door of higher education to talented individuals who will provide leadership on critical issues facing our world for many years to come.”  - Luis Ubiñas, Ford Foundation President.  

IFP Fellows have enrolled in 544 universities in 45 countries since 2001. Over 2,200 alumni have successfully completed their academic programs, and 83% of surveyed alumni are living in their home country. Alumni all over the world are working in government and civil society organizations, teaching in universities and leading advocacy efforts, in fields such as education, public health, agriculture, law and human rights, arts and culture, and natural resource management.

In 2009, final selections were held in Russia, the Philippines and Palestine. All other sites will hold their final selections in 2010, bringing the total number of IFP Fellows to around 4,300. IFP will conclude its work by 2013, in keeping with the original plan laid out by Ford Foundation and IFP leadership at the program’s start.

As Ford Foundation President Luis Ubiñas noted, “IFP’s impact has reached far beyond the Fellows...It is reshaping how governments, universities and other scholarship programs are thinking about building diverse and talented leaders committed to our most pressing global issues. And it is proving that leaders from marginalized communities can compete academically in the most challenging environments and return to their home countries to make a difference.”

 

IFP now enters its four-year impact and learning phase, focusing on assessing and disseminating the knowledge generated by its groundbreaking model of leadership development. As part of its mandate, IFP will work to shape policies that open the doors of higher education to a new generation of social justice leaders.