Success Stories

“Every day I am growing and understanding the enormous responsibility I have as a leader to lead the way for others to follow through the commitments and sacrifice I give in service to humanity. My understanding of team work has broadened to help me see that I can do much more and achieve much more if I am humble enough to be deliberate enough to include people in my team who by far have strengths I do not have."

- Angela Omeiza Ochu-Baiye

“This program has opened up my mind to so many possibilities.” These words from Angela Omeiza Ochu-Baiye, a 2019 Mandela Washington Fellow at Indiana University, exemplify how this powerful program makes a difference in the lives of young African leaders. The 2019 program marked IU’s fourth consecutive Leadership in Civic Engagement Institute under the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program, funded by the U.S. Department of State. IU hosted 25 young professionals (ages 25-35) from 16 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, including Botswana, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Comoros, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Zimbabwe. In their home countries, the members of this accomplished group work on issues such as women’s rights, gender equality, education, community development, at-risk youth, public health, law, media and journalism, and more. The six-week IU Institute helps these Fellows further develop skills and experiences in civic leadership and community service, as well as technical capacity in areas such as community development, volunteerism, grass-roots activism, leadership, social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and fundraising.

Hailing from Nigeria, Ms. Ochu-Baiye is a lawyer-turned-talk-show-host/producer who is passionate about using media to raise awareness of critical social issues. Through her platform on WE FM 106.3 in Abuja, she is working to transform radio content to include discourse that is more intellectual and to provide panels of experts to directly support her listeners. She is also the founder of Jela’s Development Initiatives (JDI), a non-governmental organization that promotes healthy living and projects such as blood donation drives, setting up community water sources, and providing counseling to help to re-duce the rising rate of suicide.

Upon completion of the Mandela Washington Fellowship program at IU, Ms. Ochu-Baiye plans to use her new knowledge to discuss civic engagement programs with her community, and she feels that the program has charged her with a responsibility to expand her positive impact. “I am so thankful to Indiana University,” she noted during an interview on Bloomington’s WFHB community radio station. “It's been a very, very intense six weeks. Now I have been given so much in my hands, the expectations are higher now for me. It’s like, ‘OK, Angela, we’ve trusted you with this platform – now what are you going to do about it?’”

"I belong to the first generation of students at the SEEU and as an ethnic Albanian this had a great meaning to me. But I had not even imagined what this University would have offered me beyond the opportunity to study in my mother tongue. Through IU, I was exposed to new learning methods that made SEEU completely different from all other universities not just in North Macedonia but the entire region. SEEU proved that it can be indeed a multi-ethnic and high quality Western institution at the heart of the Balkans."

- Dr. Blerta Abazi Chaushi 

South East European University (SEEU) is a private-public not-for-profit higher education institution in the Republic of North Macedonia, established in 2001 in response to a demand from ethnic Albanians in North Macedonia for higher education in their mother tongue. Under the leadership of the IU Office of International Development and with funding from USAID, Indiana University spearheaded institutional capacity building activities at SEEU from 2001-2006, involving more than 35 IU faculty, staff, and graduate students in initiatives including the co-creation of curriculum, establishment of libraries and Centers for language learning and career support, and degree training for faculty.

Dr. Blerta Abazi Chaushi has been connected to IU since the earliest days of the collaboration. Valedictorian of SEEU’s class of 2005, she became faculty at the university in 2008 following graduate study at IU's Kelley School of Business. "As a young student," she recalls, "I was exposed from the very beginning to the new mentality brought by Indiana University, which has shaped my career in ways more than imaginable. In my country and my workplace I am still one of the few to bring innovative methods and ideas to improving student outcomes. I also fostered the MIS program in my university, which turned out to be ahead of its time...students completing this program are [now] working with the most renowned European companies. I take pride in that. I am firm in my belief that quality education is one of the apparatuses to handle inequality and contribute to prosperity, and since my return to SEEU, I am always striving for better education for all, especially for inclusive education where diversity is cherished as an asset. This is all led by the example from IU."

Her experiences with IU have impacted Dr. Abazi Chaushi personally as well as professionally. "Their commitment led me to excel in any endeavor I would undertake in the years to come," she explains. "I built trust in myself and learned to overcome my fears and not let them control me. My experience with IU truly made me realize my capacities and develop them in the direction that I personally chose. I loved everything about IU. The confidence I built up at IU, follows me to this day at SEEU. Perseverance and diligence, teamwork and collaboration, communication skills and creative thinking - these are all the things I gained from IU. This experience made me into a person that a new student can look up to. I try to lead by example, and grasp every single opportunity that comes along.”

IU continues its relationship with SEEU to the present day, with new partnership activities in development as SEEU prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Dr. Abazi Chaushi maintains a central role in the relationship as SEEU's International Affairs Coordinator, and she believes strongly in applying IU values to SEEU's future success. "We are continuously faced with new realities, and we need to have a high level of preparedness to adapt. This is my biggest heritage from my education with IU, and I will not stand still until I pass this spirit to my students who are the future of the country and the world."

“I regularly have video calls with my mentor to talk about progress, challenges, and possible solutions. Not only does this hold me accountable for my actions, but also helps me advance successfully in my personal and professional pursuits.”

- Boubacar Sy 

For Mr. Boubacar Sy, the 2018 Mandela Washington Fellowship Leadership in Civic Engagement Institute at Indiana University served as a journey to self-discovery that led to a successful professional career. “In the six weeks at IU,” he recalls, “I found a way to combine my passions and build strategies to pursue these desires in a meaningful way.” The key to his success, he says, was “to get a mentor during the Fellowship.”

An active member of his community in Mali, Mr. Sy deals with young families who make their living by working on private farms. He sees how these families face intense obstacles on daily basis, including extreme poverty, inadequate education, and lack of the necessary skills to maintain their livelihood or dream of a better future. “I regularly participate in meetings to address the issues of this community,” he reports, “and I try as much as I can with my skills and time to [participate in] the different initiatives targeting development in this community. For example, fixing the main road or integrating the traditional banking system. From observing and exchanging conversations with the members of the community, I learned a lot about their needs and decided to start a social business that consists of coaching, teaching, and organizing people in my community. Currently, I teach parents literacy courses at night because they work for their bosses during the day. I hold language and leadership classes for the youth when their schools aren’t open or during weekends where they are free.”

Mr. Sy emphasizes that during the IU Institute, “the networking sessions helped me connect with a lot of American professionals, and particularly very strongly with Dr. Bryan Richards, a visual communications design professor at IUI.” As a team, they were able to later take advantage of the Reciprocal Exchange component of the Fellowship, a funding opportunity that allows American professionals to travel to sub-Saharan Africa and continue collaborative work with Fellowship alumni in-country. "The Fellowship made possible my connection with Dr. Richards and his travel to Mali," said Mr. Sy. "He helped me and my friend Derrin Slack to develop and implement training in design thinking that provided professional certification to 20 sports coaches and community activists."

The 2018 program marked IU’s third consecutive year with the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program, funded by the U.S. Department of State. IU hosted 25 young professionals (ages 25-35) from 20 different countries across sub-Saharan Africa and provided intensive training to help Fellows further develop skills and experiences in civic leadership and community service, as well as technical capacity in areas such as community development, volunteerism, grassroots activism, leadership, social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and fundraising.

“I grew up with the idea of 'leader' as a political word and it doesn’t belong to the ordinary class in the society. The MYLP helped me understand that we ourselves are leaders who are leading our own path and we can consider ourselves as leaders too. I also understood more about diversity. I became more accepting of not only other ethnicities, religions, and gender but also the idea of differences in views and opinions, which improved my negotiation skill.”

- Cracy Than

Cracy Than is an accomplished young professional in Myanmar with dedication to improving the lives of youth not just in her hometown of Bago, but also across the country. Upon her return to Myanmar after participating in the 2014 Youth Leadership Program (MYLP) run by Indiana University, Ms. Than designed and opened the Noor Education and Community Center, a thriving social enterprise that today runs a full civic-education curriculum — including English classes — for youth and young adults. “I had a dream to create a safe and friendly place for the young people in my hometown as a college student,” she reflects. “Participation in the MYLP helped me gain the knowledge and skills to decide to build an education center that benefits the community at large.”

After the 2014 program, Ms. Than also served as a local consultant for all subsequent MYLP in-country follow-on workshops. “The experience and knowledge I gained at IU developed my confidence,” she notes, “and that inspired me to get consistently involved in the MYLP for the next five years, sharing my expertise with each new cohort as a role model and supporting IU staff.” She also leveraged her own organization to provide hands-on experiences for other MYLP alumni, offering a rich volunteer opportunity for these like-minded young leaders and teaching them how to contribute to community development and further apply the skills and knowledge they gained during the program.

Funded by the U.S. Department of State and implemented by the IU Office of International Development for six years (2014-2019), the MYLP brought 20 high-school students and adult educators from Myanmar annually to Indiana and Washington, DC for an intensive, four-week exchange program and subsequent follow-on workshop. This exceptional initiative provided young emerging leaders an opportunity to examine the principles of democracy and civil society as currently practiced in the United States, promote mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries, and learn leadership skills that would enable them become responsible citizens and contributing members of their home communities.

“I came in when we had just founded the Youth and Success Association (YASA), only two years earlier, with a lot of strain on us as the leadership. The Mandela Washington Fellowship at IU helped me streamline my leadership skills and helped us win a national award as a leading Community Champion in Kenya.”

- Sheila Atieno Van de Graaph

Ms. Sheila Atieno Van de Graaph, CEO and co-founder of the Youth and Success Association (YASA), is an avid advocate for youth and women in Kenya. After a highly competitive selection process, in 2016 Ms. Van De Graaph became a Mandela Washington Fellow and joined 24 other young African professionals at Indiana University for the Leadership in Civic Engagement Institute. “The IU Institute really helped me enhance my skills at a critical time for my organization,” she notes.

YASA works with young people aged 13-35 years, implementing a range of holistic youth programs, experiences, and support initiatives that empower youth to achieve their full potential to become active, engaged, and thriving members of the community. Ms. Van De Graaph reflects that, as a new CEO of a young organization, she was able to improve her leadership skills through the Fellowship and see a resulting, direct impact on her organization upon her return to Kenya. “I established self-sustaining programs and increased our resource mobilization aspects,” she recalls. “We went from impacting just 3,000 youth to 12,000 youth. We were able to bring in more partners and individuals such as Dr. James Lemons at Indiana University who has done extensive work in Kenya in area of public health.” She was also able to use her learning from the Fellowship to work more effectively with media outlets, working with them to promote YASA’s magazine and create an online platform for greater reach.

The 2016 program marked IU’s first Leadership in Civic Engagement Institute under the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program, funded by the U.S. Department of State. The six-week program provides executive-style training for young professionals (ages 25-35) in civic leadership, grass-roots activism, social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and fundraising, as well as experiences in community development and volunteerism. In 2016, IU hosted 25 Fellows from 18 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, including Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, and Zimbabwe.

“During the campaign, I referred to [the] life-changing experience of being in the Youth Leadership Program with participants from two other Baltic States, Latvia and Estonia, which was very well received by the voters. I talked about how the program helped me recognize basic issues that can arise in different communities and taught me the different ways I can reach as many people as possible. I have no doubt that Youth Leadership Program will continue to help me greatly in the future, and I'll be improving myself as a leader throughout my life.”

- Sarunas Grigonis

 In March of 2019, the Lithuanian town of Anyksciai (pop. 40,000) elected 18-year-old Sarunas Grigonis to its city council, making him the youngest official ever chosen for that body. “The possibility of helping my community intrigued me, and I decided to run,” recalled Mr. Grigonis, who credits his entry into politics directly to his participation a few months earlier in the On-Demand Youth Leadership Program (ODYLP) with the Baltic States at Indiana University (IU).

Funded by the U.S. Department of State and implemented by the IU Office of International Development, the ODYLP brought 24 high-school students and adult educators from three Baltic States to Indiana and Washington, DC for an intensive, four-week exchange program focused on leadership skills and cross-cultural engagement. This exceptional program was created to promote mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries; prepare youth leaders to become responsible citizens and contributing members of their communities; and foster relationships among youth from different ethnic, religious, and national groups.

From 2017 to 2019, Indiana University implemented the ODYLP for six different cohorts, including youth from Indonesia, Mongolia, Italy, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, Slovenia, Azerbaijan, and the Republic of Georgia. During U.S. exchanges and in-country follow-on workshops, carefully crafted programming engaged ODYLP participants in a robust curriculum of civic education, leadership development, and community service activities, providing young people such as Mr. Grigonis with opportunities for meaningful interactions with community leaders, youth from other countries, and most importantly with American peers and host families.

In the fall of 2019, Mr. Grigonis began pursuing his law degree at Lithuania’s Vilnius University. He believes that it is important that youth have a voice, “because their goals and ideas for improving their communities can make a great, long-lasting impact. I love my city, I want it to grow, [and] I hope to create comfortable conditions for all the residents in the area. During the On-Demand YLP with Baltic States, I learned how important it is to pay greater attention to the youth in the district and hear their ideas and suggestions for the improvement of our community.”

"I personally believe in the concept of the Mandela Washing Fellowship Program, I think it is amazing! What a way to connect people to people. You see, one on one conversation with other people is how we grow and learn. We don't have to agree, we have to respect each other enough to listen to each other."

- Martha Miller

“How can 25 people change a person and her family's world in 24 hours?” Martha Miller met her first group of Mandela Washington Fellows in 2016 when Indiana University’s first Institute cohort literally showed up on her doorstep. After her daughter, Kelly, assisted the Fellows during their site visit to Ivy Tech Community College, she invited the group to her family farm outside of Bloomington for a traditional Indiana cookout. Martha describes watching her daughters’ transformation: “Kelly knew their names, what country they were from, and their likes and interests. I was astonished to see that, for her, Africa was no longer just a continent — it was now a place of many countries, of diverse people, similar struggles, and religious confusion...and now it held her heart.” The visitors were equally inspired, embracing their experience at Martha’s farm as they challenged their own stereotypes around the idea of “rural America.”

The conversations weren’t always easy. “The farm we live on has been in my family for 5 generations," Martha observes. “I was born and raised in this 98% white, rural American farming community, and I know or am related to 80% of the people that live within a 15-mile radius.” But she credits the Mandela program for turning her family’s fears into curiosity and ultimately love. “Because of Kelly’s passion for this group and the way she shared that with all of us,” she recalls, “we chose to expand our love, and shared knowledge of America with them, as well. I truly think a family was born."

Martha Miller and her family, including her elderly parents, have gone on to welcome Mandela Washington Fellows to their farm in every subsequent program year. Fellows call her “Mama Martha,” and she has maintained relationships with them long after the exchange concludes. The experiences have also changed the way she interacts with new faces in her own community. She shares, “Now when I see people in a store and hear familiar accents, I will approach and ask ‘where are you from?’ The answer is usually first ’Africa,’ but then I say, ‘I know, but where are you from,’ and it breaks the ice and makes a connection. And for a brief moment, I am also connected once again to my children in Africa.”

Experiences like Martha’s realize a core goal of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders: to strengthen people-to-people relationships and deepen mutual understanding. At Indiana University, the Office of International Development has implemented this State Department-funded program annually since 2016, hosting more than 100 young professionals from countries across sub-Saharan Africa. Through these Institutes, IU provides intensive training to help Fellows’ further develop skills and experiences in civic leadership and community service, as well as technical capacity in areas such as community development, volunteerism, grassroots activism, social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and fundraising.

“I always wanted to go to a film school but I could never afford it, so I focused on working in the industry and learned by doing it. A film director, a friend called me up to tell about me ‘Beyond Borders Filmmaking Workshop’ which was going to be held at Indiana University. I did some research and learned about the program, I was so excited. It was like a dream come true. I always wanted to go to Pakistan and now I had the opportunity to meet the people from Pakistan in the United States of America and share my love of filmmaking with them.”

- Jassi Sangha

In May and June 2017, the “Beyond Borders: A Workshop on Filmmaking” project at Indiana University invited 30 young Punjabi filmmakers like Ms. Jassi Sangha to Bloomington to share common ground and creative visions across the Indian/Pakistani border.

Funded by the U.S. Department of State through the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India, IU’s Office of International Development and The Media School paired up to implement this exciting program focused on building not only media-production skills but also mutual trust and long-term relationships among filmmakers in the region. Fifteen participants each from Pakistan and India came together for three weeks to collaborate, learn, and use the arts to create people-to-people bridges that transcend a contentious political boundary.

Ms. Sangha, now a researcher at the production house Window Seat Film, reflects positively on her experience in the program and the impact of the exchange on her professional and personal life in the film industry and as a community influencer in Punjab, India. During the program, her favorite aspect was getting to work alongside individuals with diverse backgrounds, emphasizing how the experience “bridged our differences as we told our stories and heard each other’s ideas through the art of filmmaking.” Upon her return, Ms. Sangha created two films, which “for someone without any prior formal filmmaking training [before] this workshop, that was a dream come true!”

The program experience was intense. Ms. Sangha recalls," studying the theory, working through assignments, creating films with the support from Indiana University faculty and staff, I was changed completely as a person and gained the confidence I needed so much in this field as a filmmaker.” Additionally, learning about American culture and film in rural Indiana inspired her to take on a community project back home that utilizes sports and cultural activities to improve the lives of young Punjabis in India. Ms. Sangha remains in touch with Pakistani colleagues from the “Beyond Borders” program. On her next project – her directorial debut film – she plans to reach out to her friends across the border for their help in developing a soundtrack featuring Punjabi music from the Pakistani city of Lahore.