In a tumultuous economy, those who are already socially or financially vulnerable often suffer the most. As a result, NGOs seeking to help these individuals and their communities may encounter new and seemingly unconquerable challenges.The key to addressing these complex issues is to cultivate a generation of creative and highly skilled leaders at all levels of an organization.
To this end, the work of the LASPAU Leadership Fellowship Program 2 could not be happening at a better time. The program, which began in 2007 through a three-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), is designed to strengthen the capabilities of professionals employed at the local and regional levels by WKKF-affiliated NGOs. 
The fellowship recipients are midcareer leaders working in the three WKKF priority geographic areas: (1) Central America and the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico; (2) the Northeast of Brazil; and (3) the Andean Region, including Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru.
The fellows, who have all demonstrated an exceptional capacity to help strengthen their region’s development processes, are undertaking graduate and certificate programs in the United States, Europe, and Latin America that will help them to refine their talents and enrich their leadership skills.
During two application review periods in February and December of 2008, LASPAU interviewed and selected 30 fellows from the 154 applications it received. Twelve of these grantees were placed in programs that began in 2008, and the remaining 18 will begin their studies in 2009 or early 2010. Those who have already begun their programs are taking courses on topics such as rural development, poverty alleviation, cultural diversity in education, and the role of gender in development. In a progress report to LASPAU, one grantee said, “The class on poverty reduction inspired deep thinking regarding global poverty development efforts and how the small work our organization does fits in this large world scenario.”
In addition to taking relevant courses, grantees are able to focus their research projects on issues specific to their region. One grantee is working on a diagnostic study of 35 municipalities in Honduras that are classified as the most vulnerable in terms of food security. Another is examining youth education in rural areas, leading her thesis advisor to comment, “Her excellent work has a very real possibility of being put into practice in the north of her country, and I believe she is a person who is completely prepared to lead this effort. This master’s degree program has enabled her to channel her knowledge in order to develop and direct good proposals in the rural development domain of her country.”
To compliment their academic programs, each fellow attends one of two intensive social leadership seminars held on the Harvard University campus. Sixteen fellows participated in the first seminar, which took place in November 2008. Titled Social Leadership and Multisectoral Alliances, the seminar featured Harvard and MIT faculty who led sessions on topics such as effective communication, negotiation, and strategic planning. The seminar also included a full-day participative social leadership session led by Marshall Ganz from the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. The final two days of the seminar took place at Project Adventure, an experiential learning center, and featured physical exercises and tasks that challenged participants’ teamwork and leadership skills.
For more information, contact Craig Hastings at craig_hastings@harvard.edu or 617-495-0432.
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