2024 Mandela Washington Fellow and Ambassador Virginia Palmer.
Accra, Ghana The U.S. Embassy is proud to announce the selection of 32 Ghanaian Young Leaders for 2024. Mandela Washington Fellowship (MWF)This year’s group is one of the most diverse yet, with a strong presence in northern Ghana. Fellows come from a wide range of fields, including health, climate change, combating gender-based violence and child labor, supporting the agriculture sector, STEM, and strengthening the business sector.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship is a flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) that empowers young African leaders through academic courses, leadership training, mentoring, networking, career opportunities, and community engagement. YALI is the U.S. government’s signature initiative to invest in the next generation of African leaders, supporting young Africans to foster economic growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance, and enhance peace and security across the continent. The Mandela Washington Fellowship is funded by the U.S. Department of State, designed and managed by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), and implemented by IREX. The Mandela Washington Fellowship will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2024.
“I want to underscore why the United States is investing in Ghana and Africa’s youth. Sub-Saharan Africa is the great force of the future, with almost half of its population under the age of 25 in the next few years and one in four people on the planet being from Africa by 2050. The role of people-to-people exchanges is a critical part of the rich and historic U.S.-Ghana partnership. Our partnership goes well beyond governments to include civil society, NGOs, the private sector and the people more broadly,” said U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Virginia E. Palmer at a welcoming reception for this year’s participants.
The 32 fellows from Ghana were selected from more than 3,000 applications received by the Ghana Embassy in the U.S. They will be part of a group of 700 Mandela Washington Fellows who will be hosted at 28 educational institutions across the U.S. The fellows were selected from more than 50,000 applications submitted from across the continent.
“We look forward to this group continuing its momentum of fostering innovation and positively impacting your communities and Ghana after you complete your six-week fellowship in the United States,” Ambassador Palmer added.
Upon returning home, the 2024 Ghana Mandela Washington Fellows will join a network of more than 3,500 U.S. exchange student alumni in Ghana that actively engages with U.S. and Ghanaian leaders to develop community-based solutions to public policy challenges, including health, education, human rights, women’s empowerment, and other critical areas.
2024 Ghana Mandela Washington Fellow
name | Urban areas |
Stephen Abane | Bolgatanga – Upper East |
Maxwell Awafo | Bolgatanga – Upper East |
Abdul Majeed Alhassan | Kulungugu – Upper East |
Augustine Yeboah | Wa – Upper West |
Mohammed Hafiz Yahya | Wa – Upper West |
Dominic Acaateba | Wa – Upper West |
Hamza Abdullah | Tamale – North |
Fatima Isaka | Tamale – North |
Blasila Kandaw | Tamale – North |
Fatimata Yakubu | Tamale – North |
Banasco Seydoux | Saura – Savannah |
Adams Eula Karim | Saraga – Savannah |
Reagan Massoud | Larabanga – Savannah |
Huda Ibrahim | Techiman – Bono East |
John Baptiste Cabo Ba | Sunyani – Bono |
Aja Anatu Mohammed | Wench – Bono |
Joseph Obeng Asante | Chilaa – Bono |
Philip Baba | Kumasi – Ashanti |
Prince Agbata | Accra – Greater Accra |
Isaac Breña | Accra – Greater Accra |
Brian Zansi | Accra – Greater Accra |
Richard Siaw | Accra – Greater Accra |
Felix Appiah | Kpone – Greater Accra |
Victor Logro | Hohoe – Volta |
Sophia Mensah Boduwa | Akosombo – East |
Luther Kwasi | Nanjing – Eastern |
Gifty Gima | Cape Coast – Central |
Samuel Quansah | Cape Coast – Central |
Daniel Amoah | Komenda – Central |
Joycelyn Darkwa | Agona Swedl – Central |
Francisca Hagan | Takoradi – West |
Lois Aubin | Takoradi – West |