Unisa online - CEMS meets with the Ford Foundation

Dr Joan Dassin (Executive Director: Ford Foundation International Fellowships Programme, US), Prof Hellicy Ngambi (Executive Dean: CEMS) & Ms Louise Africa (Programme Director: Africa-America Institute, RSA)

Prof Hellicy Ngambi, Executive Dean: CEMS, hosted the Executive Director of the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Programme (IFP), Dr Joan Dassin.

The IFP provides potential leaders from the world’s disadvantaged communities with higher education so that they can contribute to the development of their own countries. The IFP is a fellowship programme uniquely designed to promote social justice, community development and access to higher education. The programme supports talented individuals from marginalised social groups, and encourages them to use their leadership skills and knowledge to work toward positive social change in their home communities and countries.

The programme began in 2001 and is administered by Africa-America Institute in South Africa, headed by Ms Louise Africa. Through its administration of higher education and training programmes, the Africa-America Institute stands at the forefront of US organisations that help build human capacity in Africa with over 22 000 African alumni from 52 countries having received professional training or advanced degrees in the US, Africa and other parts of the world. Over the last nine years (2002-2011), 267 South Africans, selected for their potential to play a leading role in tackling issues of social justice in the country, were awarded scholarships from the prestigious Ford Foundation Fellowships Programme.

Prof Ngambi acknowledges that a programme of this nature plays a meaningful role in developing leaders of tomorrow and that such programmes fit in with the college’s objective of developing RARE graduates and leaders in their respective communities.

Prof Ngambi’s research assistant, Mr Meiya G Nthoesane, is a fellow of the IFP programme, having successfully completed his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree through the Ford Foundation IFP scholarship grant.