Mandela Washington Fellowship Reciprocal Exchange Component 2026 (Funding available)

Deadline: September 19, 2025

Applications are open for the Mandela Washington Fellowship Reciprocal Exchange Component 2026. The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders—the flagship exchange program of the U.S. Government’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI)—was created to invest in the next generation of African leaders.  Established in 2014, the Fellowship has supported Alumni from across Sub-Saharan Africa to develop their leadership skills and foster connections and collaboration with U.S. professionals. The Mandela Washington Fellowship is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX.

The Fellowship’s Reciprocal Exchange component provides U.S. professionals with the opportunity to build upon strategic partnerships and professional connections developed during the Mandela Washington Fellowship. U.S. professionals are provided funds to implement in-person or hybrid projects in Sub-Saharan African countries to continue collaborative work with Fellowship Alumni on the continent. U.S. professionals may include Americans engaged with the Fellowship through networking, the Summit, Professional Development Experiences, or other activities.

Benefits

• Maximum Hybrid Grant Award: $3,000 per project
• Maximum In-Person Grant Award: $5,000 per selected Participant (up to four U.S. Participants)

Eligibility

• U.S. professionals participating in the Reciprocal Exchange must be U.S. citizens currently living in the United States.
• U.S. professionals may not be employees or immediate family members of employees of the U.S. Government (including a U.S. Embassy or other U.S. Government entity).
• Any one individual can complete no more than two in-person Reciprocal Exchange projects.
• Fellowship Alumni must be considered Alumni of the Fellowship in good standing by the U.S. Department of State. They may not be employees or immediate family members of employees of the U.S. Government.
• Fellowship Alumni must reside in the proposed project country and be present for the full duration of the project’s implementation.

Selection Criteria

Eligible applications will be reviewed using the following selection criteria: 

• Demonstrates impact on the Fellowship Alumni Collaborator’s home organization, community, and/or country; 
• Demonstrates impact and concrete benefit to U.S. companies, communities, or organizations; 
• Demonstrates joint engagement between the Fellowship Alumni Collaborator and U.S. professional in project design and implementation (i.e., it should be clear to application reviewers that each applicant contributed equally to the overall application); 
• Proposes a clear and realistic project implementation plan; 
• Provides measurable goals and specific project activities during implementation; and 
• Demonstrates continued impact of the project after implementation. 

Application

Reciprocal Exchange applications must include the following attachments. Applications missing any attachment will be considered incomplete and therefore ineligible.

• Completed Application Form
  • Both the U.S. professional and the Fellowship Alumni must work together to complete an application form.
  • Both the U.S. professional and the Fellowship Alumni must work together to complete an application form.
  • All responses must be in English.
  • Include your full, legal name as it is spelled in your international passport.  
  • Provide complete contact information, including postal index codes for all addresses, and country and area codes for telephone numbers. 
  • Answers to essay questions should not exceed 300 words (approximately 2,000 characters) per question. Do not copy and paste essay responses between the U.S. professional and the Fellowship Alumni Collaborator sections of the application. 
  • The use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools is strongly discouraged, as content generated using these tools is often vague and duplicative and results in poor applications.  Applicants should ensure the core content and expressions are their own and that the content represents their own unique experiences and plans.  
• Completed Work Plan
  • Eligible work plans must use the provided template and comply with the requirements outlined in the template’s Guidelines tab. Template available here.
• Completed Budget Form: All costs should be in U.S. dollars. 
  • Eligible budgets must use the provided template and comply with the requirements outlined in the template’s Guidelines tab. 
  • Budgets should reflect total estimated costs of project implementation, including expenses that will be provided in-kind and/or through cost-share. Template available here. 
• Professional Resumes: Resumes for all candidates should demonstrate that the applicants are well-qualified to implement the proposed project.  They must be submitted in English and no longer than two pages.

Click here to apply

For more information, visit Reciprocal Exchange Component.