saur BBQ at Onondaga Lake

Park.

At this half way point of their

Fellowship, Fellows are nearing

the end of the Humphrey

Leadership seminar, taught by

Catherine Gerard and Steve

Lux and honing in on profes-

sional affiliation options. They

also are continuing professional

site visits and development and

will travel to NYC for 3 days in

March.

Over the past 4 years, Max-

well’s Executive Education Pro-

gram has hosted 47 fellows

from 36 countries as part of

the Hubert H. Humphrey Fel-

lowship Program.

The 2012-2013 Humphrey Fel-

lows arrived in late July, signal-

ing the beginning of their 10-

month program of academic

study, professional develop-

ment and cultural exchange at

the Maxwell School of Citizen-

ship and Public Affairs. This

year’s cohort consists of eleven

students, each from eleven

unique countries including Paki-

stan, Mexico, Afghanistan, Leb-

anon, Cote d’Ivoire, Serbia,

Tunisia, Argentina, Bangladesh,

Venezuela, and Ecuador.

During the Fellowship, fellows

will focus their study on the

fields of public administration

and policy, for which Maxwell

has been ranked #1 nationally

for the past 20 years.

During an eventful three-week

orientation, the Fellows were

welcomed by Provost Eric Spi-

na, who reflected upon the

global and local expertise and

experience inherent in Syracuse

University and the Maxwell

School. Associate Dean Michael

Wasylenko also hosted a lunch

discussion about the current

national and global economic

conditions. They also took an

economic development walking

tour of downtown Syracuse,

explored the picturesque village

of Skaneateles and met host

families and friends over Dino-

2012-2013 Humphrey Fellows at the Maxwell School

Winter 2013 Volume IV, Issue 1 News and Events of the 2012-2013 Hubert H.

Humphrey Program at

the Maxwell School of

Syracuse University.

Humphrey News

(Left to Right: Ana Marcela Paredes (Ecuador), Atul Mondal (Bangladesh), Dahlia Khoury Sader (Lebanon), Nejib

Khabbouchi (Tunisia), Darys Jimenez (Venezuela), Hassan Arshad (Pakistan), Gina Chacon (Mexico), Adrián Pérez

(Argentina), Madeleine Sialou (Cote d’Ivoire), Ajmal Poya (Afghanistan), Andrijana Vojnovic,(Serbia)

Meet the Humphreys 1

The Adirondacks with

Cornell

2

Volunteering at the

Center for New

Americans

3

Visiting Syracuse City

Hall

3

Reflections of a

Humphrey Fellow—

Andrijana Vojnovic

4

Potluck Party 5

NYS Politics and Open

Government

5

Alumni Updates–

Baloko Makala

6

Alumni updates–

Roxana Silva, Nimrod

Goren

7

Alumni Updates–

Rezwana Siddiqui

8

Syracuse Seasons 9

Farewell 9

Global Leadership

Forum

10

Alumni Update–

Brahmanand Thakur

11

Page 7

Alumni Updates - Mini Features of Past EMPAs

Page 2

Minnowbrook Excursion and Friends from Cornell The Fellows visited SU’s beautiful Minnow-

brook Conference Center in the Adirondacks

this September for a day of team-building and

professional development. They practiced

elevator speeches and took advantage of the

autumn weather and picture-perfect Blue

Mountain Lake.

En route to Lake Placid, the fellows ate lunch

at Buttermilk Falls and then met their Cornell

counterparts at the Adirondack Park Agency.

It was a happy reunion for some of the Fel-

lows, who met at pre-academic training. Sat-

urday morning was spent in the fog, driving up

to Whiteface Mountain where the fellows

traversed to the top of Whiteface, at an eleva-

tion of 4,867 ft/1,483.5m. There was plenty of

time to visit with the Cornell Fellows while

enjoying the scenery of parts of the 6-million

acre park.

Above: The foggy and windy top of Whiteface

Mountain; enjoying Blue Mountain Lake and

Buttermilk Falls; working on elevator speeches

and below, meeting up with the Cornell

Humphrey Fellows in Lake Placid.

Page 3

Humphreys Help at Center for New Americans

Visiting City Hall with Mayor Stephanie Miner

This year, fellows moved furniture, swept

floors, assembled tables, and arranged décor

and appliances for a refugee family from Bur-

ma (Myanmar) arriving in Syracuse through

the Center for New Americans.

Fellows worked together to make sure every-

thing was ready by the time the family ar-

rived, and were able to meet with Deb Virgo,

who explained the refugee resettlement pro-

cess. The Center for New Americans, part of

Interfaith Works, is committed to helping

establish new lives for displaced persons from

around the globe, working tirelessly to ensure

that they have the best possible start

once they arrive in Syracuse. Many

new refugees are settled on the north

side of Syracuse. Fellows unpacked

furniture and housewares doing their

part to make a house a home.

The Fellows were delighted to have

such a wonderful volunteer oppor-

tunity, and benefitted from learning

the process and work that goes into

assisting those who are new to the

country.

Fellows had the opportunity to visit

Syracuse City Hall and meet Mayor

Stephanie Miner and members of her

administration. The administrators,

including her chief of staff, director of

administration, and director of mayoral

initiatives talked about how they fulfill

the mayor’s initiatives during challeng-

ing economic conditions. The fellows

also toured the historic building, meet-

ing numerous department heads who

Above, Mayor Miner stopped by to welcome the fellows. Left, Fellows listen to Common Council President Van

Robinson discuss the role of the Common Council and

how the governing body interacts with the Mayor’s

office.

spent time explaining how their offices serve its

constituents.

Page 7

Alumni Updates - Mini Features of Past EMPAs

Page 4

Reflections as a Humphrey Fellow– Andrijana Vojnovic

America is another name for opportunity. This is what

Ralph Waldo Emerson said two hundred years ago and

it still echoes to this very day. When I came to the

United States as a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow I could

see opportunities for intellectual challenge every-

where. The one I got is to spend one academic year at

the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs a

leading public affairs school in the United States. Looking back at the fall semester at Maxwell I have to

say that the courses and activities offered to the Fel-

lows far exceeded my expectations. We had the chance

to travel to the Global Leadership Forum in Washing-

ton DC, network with fellows from all around the

world, visit the State Department and have individual

meetings with counterpart organizations.

We traveled throughout New York State, visited numerous lakes and met with the local people.

We got to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama,

had meetings with New York State Senator

David Valesky, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Min-

er and many distinguished professors from the

Syracuse area. Interacting with the faculty,

host families and other fellows made this a

gratifying time for all of us in 2012 cohort of

Humphrey Fellows.

As part of my individual professional develop-

ment in the past five months I focused on civil

society and NGOs

from both theoretical

and practical aspects.

I was fortunate to be able to work with a great team at the Transna-

tional NGO Initiative headed by Prof. Tosca Bruno-Van Vijfeijken.

The TNGO Initiative advances the understanding of TNGOs as signifi-

cant players in global affairs through research, education, and practition-

er engagement.

Coming from the NGO world where I have been working for the past

ten years I needed an opportunity to reflect on some of the strategies I

use at work and think about the implications of my work in a global

perspective. Prof. Tosca Bruno has been a great support at the outset

of my fellowship year, providing guidance

and motivation in my research. For me personally the opportunity

to conduct research and learn from

some of the best in the field was very

challenging and beneficial since it

helped me understand my weaknesses

as well as my strengths and pointed

me to new horizons of personal and

professional development.

I am grateful for this opportunity, the

resources for professional advance-

ment that are offered to the Humph-

rey Fellows, and I am determined to

use the rest of my fellowship year in a

way that will benefit both my host University and the organization I

work for in Serbia.

Page 5

International Potluck - Food and Friendship In early December the Fellows proved they are as

accomplished in the kitchen as they are in their

professions (even if it took a phone call home to

get the recipe or cooking tips!). Host families and

friends joined fellows and their families for an after-

noon of delicious food, cultural exchange and all

around good cheer. Fellows prepared native dishes

from their countries and offered background as to

its significance, history or preparation. The

Kogut’s dining table was overflowing with a cornu-

copia of culture. About 50 people whiled away a

winter’s afternoon, visiting with our extended

Humphrey family. We also wished Nejib and Dahlia

(pictured below) birthday wishes. The

Kogut’s presented them with SU

scarves, which have since come in

quite handy. Thanks to Barry and

Kathy for once again welcoming all of

us and to the Fellows for sharing their

culture, their food and their company.

Above: Friends and families of the Humphrey Fellows

gathered together for a food and friendship during a cold

December’s day.

Visits with NYS Senator Dave Valesky; Perspectives

on Open Government with Bob Freeman

Above, left: NYS Senator David Valesky met with the Fellows the day before Election Day to

talk New York State politics and offer his election day predictions. Although a Democrat,

Valesky is part of the Independent Democratic Conference which has since joined NYS Senate

Republicans to form a majority in the Senate. This concept was of great interest to the Fellows.

Above right: NYS Open Government Executive Director Bob Freeman discussed the root of

open government in the U.S., holding up many other countries, such as Mexico, as possessing

exemplary open government initiatives.

Page 7

Alumni Updates - Mini Features of Past EMPAs

Page 6

Building Capacity in the Horn of Africa Baloko Makala, 2010-2011 Syracuse Humphrey Fellow from Rwanda

The Horn of Africa has long been associated with catastrophic events rang-

ing from drought, famine and civil war. Today this part of the continent has

almost overcome its troubled past. One of the main characteristics of ad-

vancement in the region and in the rest of the continent is the development

of telecommunication infrastructure.

However, the main challenge once the infrastructure has

been set-up is to have trained manpower to sustain and

maintain the investment made. Unfortunately, finding qual-

ity professional training can be a real challenge. More of-

ten than not, technicians have to attend professional

courses in countries as far as France, the United Kingdom,

China, South Korea or the United States. The closest

training centers on the continent tend to be located in South Africa (6 hours

flight) or in the Middle East- UAE (4 hours flight). The cost of training abroad

can be highly prohibitive.

Since I left the Humphrey Program at Syracuse University, I have been working

to address the issue of quality technology training in the region and specifically

Djibouti while consulting on international development issues in my spare time.

The idea is instead of technicians flying out, qualified trainers are sourced abroad and flown in ac-

cording to a pre-set schedule to teach executive courses.

Djibouti is a particular case since it is a tiny French speaking country surrounded by much larger

English speaking countries. Yet Djibouti is of strategic importance in the region since it is home of

two of the most import sea ports of the region: the Port of Djibouti and the Port of Doraleh man-

aged by Dubai Port World. Almost 70 percent of goods heading to Ethiopia, a country of 84 mil-

lions inhabitants transit through Djibouti.

However, the issue of quality technical training is pervasive on the continent and a solution needs

to be found to address the lack of quality technical staff. I hope to build a model that will enable

many institutions across the continent to benefit from this scheme and improve on the quality of

their human resource. (Editor’s note: Baloko was involved with both Maxwell and the iSchool (School of Information Studies)

while a Syracuse Humphrey Fellow. She helped facilitate some contacts between an iSchool Ph.D. student,

Sarah Webb, and some public sector officials in Rwanda. Sarah’s vision is to help Rwandans create an

iSchool for their country, building library and information science programs.)

Photos below, Kogut’s Day at

the Farm: Fellows enjoyed a

restful day in the country

courtesy of hosts Barry and

Kathy Kogut. They helped

harvest their vegetable garden,

visited beef cattle and alpacas,

enjoyed the view from High-

land Forest and visited a

pumpkin farm as well. It was a

perfect fall day in Central New

York.

Fall Photo Album

Alumni

Updates

Page 7

National Election Commissioner Roxana Silva (and 2009-2010 Syracuse Humphrey Fellow) is

busy leading changes in her country of Ecuador. Transparent Voting (Voto Transparente:

Conoce a tú candidadt) is a new idea designed to educate the Ecuadorian electorate about the

candidates for the 2013

election.

On December 14, 2012

Ecudaor’s Consejo Nacional

Electoral published the web-

site

www.vototransparente.ec.

With the help of this web-

site, citizens will have the

opportunity to learn about

political parties, candidates

and electoral proposals.

This concept is very im-

portant in order to pro-

mote i-democracy and electoral participation.

The Electoral Commission works to increase the vote

of the Ecuadorian people that live abroad. In addition,

with the Ecuadorian electoral law, there is an optional

vote option for teenagers between the ages 16 to 18.

Roxana is working with Social Responsibility to estab-

lish more inclusive and transparent elections.

More info: http://www.cne.gob.ec/

index.php/autoridades/

consejerias/roxana-silva

Electoral Transparency in Ecuador

Mitvim Panel on U.S. Presidential Elections Nimrod Goren, 2009-2010 Syracuse Humph-

rey Fellow, along with Kamal Hassan orga-

nized a forum at Mitvim - the Israeli Institute

for Regional Foreign Policies, in cooperation

with the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. Two for-

mer U.S. Congresswomen - Pat Schroeder

(Democrat, Colorado) and Connie Morella

(Republican, Maryland) and a group of Israeli

scholars discussed the topic of "The US Pres-

idential Elections: What is on the Agenda?”

Nimrod founded Mitvim and serves as its

chairman after his Humphrey Fellowship.

Mitvim is a think tank aimed at reshaping

Israel's relations in the Middle East, Europe

and the Mediterranean.

Above, left: Scholars discuss the impact of the

U.S. presidential elections. Among the featured

speakers were former U.S. Congresswomen Pat

Schroeder (D, Colorado) pictured left in blue and

Connie Morella (R, Maryland, pictured in purple).

Next to Congresswoman Morella is 2009-2010

Humphrey alum Nimrod Goren.

Alumni

Updates

Page 7

Alumni Updates - Mini Features of Past EMPAs

Page 8

Rezwana Siddiqui Attends Alumni Conference

The 9th Annual Fulbright and Humphrey Alumni Conference was held in Islamabad, from No-

vember 9-11, 2012, at the HEC Auditorium Islamabad. The Conference was organized by

United States Education Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP). The theme of the conference was

"Building a Tolerant Society Together.’ The conference was divided into eight sessions,

manged during three days. Conference Papers and Presentations were based on following

topics:

1. The Role of Mass Me-

dia in Fostering Toler-

ance and Mutual Under-

standing 2. Approaches to Pro-

moting Peace and Toler-

ance in Society 3. Female Voices in

Teaching Tolerance 4. Religious Tolerance

and Learning to Live To-

gether 5. Diversity Leads to Sta-

bility 6. Challenges in Combat-

ing Militancy

The conference was well

attended, with Alumni

from Fulbright and Hu-

bert Humphrey programs participating, some of whom have attained distinguished positions as

Vice Chancellors of Universities in Pakistan.

The Pakistan National Association of Fulbright Alumni (Pak-NAFA) and the Humphrey Alumni

Association of Pakistan (HAAP) consist of nine active alumni chapters at Lahore, Islamabad,

Peshawar, Karachi, Jamshoro, Multan, Faisalabad, Gilgit, and Quetta.

U.S. Ambassador Richard Olson was the chief guest at the inaugural session. Ms. Kathryn

Schalow, Deputy Public Affairs Officer, US Embassy in Pakistan and Dr. Javaid Laghari, Chair-

man, Higher Education Commission, Government of Pakistan and Ms. Rita Akhtar, Executive

Director USEFP were also present at the inaugural session.

“I believe that virtually every one of you is here because you found the United States a good

country and Americans a decent and welcoming people. We are honored and grateful that this

link between you and our country can serve you as individuals, and through you serve other

Pakistanis as a force for good,” said

U.S. Ambassador of the occasion.

Left: Rezwanna Siddiqui and the U.S. Am-

bassador to Pakistan. Rezwana is Joint

Director / Secretary (Reforms) Federal

Board of Revenue, Revenue Division,

Government of Pakistan in Islamabad.

Alumni

Updates

Page 9

Syracuse in All its Seasons Despite the notorious cold of

Syracuse winters, our beloved

city is filled with unique activi-

ties, interesting people, and

beautiful landscapes that make

it a hard place not to warm up

to. This January, Fellows de-

cided to brave the cold and

participated in a snowball battle

and short photo session outside

of Maxwell Hall. Fellows were also able to inves-

tigate some of the unique fea-

tures of Syracuse’s downtown

on the economic development

tour they attended earlier in

2012, during warmer weather.

They were able to see the

measures the city of Syracuse

has taken to partner with pri-

vate enterprises in order to

revitalize large sections of the

city. While Syracuse can be lovely at

any time during the year, the

contrast was easy to see—and

feel!!

A Week of Farewells: Darys, Kristine, Joe

As Shakespeare’s Juliet noted, “parting is such sweet sorrow.” Within

one week in January, the Humphrey program at Maxwell said farewell

(not goodbye!) to 2012-2013 Fellow Darys Jimenez of Venezuela, 2011-

2012 Humphrey (and December 2012 EMPA graduate) Kristine Jaunze-

me of Latvia and “GA Joe” Ralbovsky of Tully, NY.

Due to the current situation in her home state and country, Darys felt it

best to return– it was a difficult decision for her to leave her Humphrey

family, but we all support her decision to return to her Venezuelan fami-

ly. We miss her already!

Kristine graduated in December with an EMPA and returned to Latvia

to begin a new job as legal consultant in the Chancery of the President

of Latvia and legal adviser for the Latvian Association of Local and Re-

gional Governments.

Joe is finishing the MAIR por-

tion of his MPA-MAIR degree

in St. Petersburg, Russia at Eu-

ropean University where he is

focusing on energy policy and

politics. He has plans to visit

Kristine in Riga after he com-

pletes his studies and will be

married in September.

Until we meet again, do keep in

touch!

Darys Jimenez

Kristine Jaunzeme

Joe Ralbovsky

Page 7

Alumni Updates - Mini Features of Past EMPAs

Page 10

Highlights from GLF

Above clockwise from left: Fellows and Syracuse Director

Margaret Lane gather for a photo

in the Ben Franklin Room of the

U.S. Department of State. The

Highlight of the Global Leadership

Forum is a reception with invited guests from Fellows’ embassies.

They also has an opportunity to

network with Washington-based

Maxwell alumni and representa-

tives of past professional affiliation

host organizations.

The large group photo features all

194 Fellows from across the 18

host campuses.

Page 7

Alumni Updates - Mini Features of Past EMPAs

Page 11

Life After the Humphrey Year Brahmanand Thakur, 2011-2012 Humphrey Fellow from Nepal

"Musa se zarror koi baat huee hai, jane ke kadam kuch aur the

aane ke kuch aur!" This was one of the many memorable sayings quoted

by Humayun during countless discussions he, Sherry and I had over dinners

at their place throughout the Humphrey year. It means something surely

must have happened with Musa, he is a different person after his return! That is exactly how people around me feel about me after my return from

Syracuse and I have no reason to differ with their assessment. Apart from

the complaint from my mom that I have become more rebellious than be-

fore, I think the change people see in me is mostly positive. The Humphrey

year helped me understand more about myself and the world we live in.

The collaborations helped institutionalize some perceptions while change

others. I realized I simply could not live happily in solitude and that it did

not matter what nationality, religion or any other natural or manmade la-

bels we give ourselves at the core of it all is humanity and bonds of friend-

ship and desire for common good. Maxwell, Syracuse, the amazing team at

Executive Education and the Humphreys continue to guide me ever after.

One of my colleagues from my old workplace asked me if I were to name one thing I would be

inspired to do differently as a result of the Humphrey experience what would that be? I told her

I would now be more than willing to get out of my comfort zone and do things that I previously

thought was too risky. It so happened that the previous night I was reading a book titled 'Stay

Hungry, Stay Foolish' that presented some inspiring real life stories of people who gave up secure,

high paying jobs to take up what seemed like risky low paying assignments to make constructive

changes in the society they lived in. So after taking a few weeks off, I decided it was finally time

for me to bring the company I had started with five other

friends from business school out of the backpack from which

we had been operating it since April 2010 and find a proper

office space for it. I wanted to work full-time on this not-so-

new venture of ours and establish it as a leading multidiscipli-

nary consulting and technology solutions firm. It took me a

month to find a suitable office for it (actually have to thank

Facebook for this) and we were ready

to change Nepal. Well, easier said

than done, it took us two weeks to

get a good internet connection and

one more to arrange for a power

backup solution for the office (we

currently have 14 hours of power

cut daily). We now have a few clients for our technology solutions divi-

sion, which helps take care of the rent and other expenses. We are

working on a number of interesting projects including one helping de-

sign, develop and support a low-cost, low-energy computer with inter-

active display for use in rural classrooms.

In the term project for Prof. Lux's course on NGO management I took

in January 2012 along with Kristine and Sania, we had proposed a tech-

nology-based solution to the problem of recruiting and retaining qualified teachers for rural

schools in Nepal which resulted in students from these schools performing badly in national level

exams at the end of grade ten. The project I am working on now is my chance to walk the talk.

We believe that teachers can make learning interesting and fun for the students, helping them

to perform better in the national level exams. This would be accomplished with the help of the

low-cost low-energy computer (run on a solar powered battery pack) running video tutorials of

official school curriculum, recorded by experienced and qualified teachers from some of the best

schools in the country. In addition, multimedia content with an interactive projector display

would also be used. (con’t on next page)

Above: Sign announcing Brahma’s

(and friends’) business

Above: Brahmanand

Thakur, 2011-2012

Humphrey Fellow

Above: The glamour of

owning your own busi-

ness- getting the new

office ready!

Alumni

Updates

Page 7

Alumni Updates - Mini Features of Past EMPAs

Page 12

Life After the Humphrey Year Brahmanand Thakur, 2011-2012 Humphrey Fellow from Nepal

(con’t from previous page)

We have partnered with a tech company from Silicon Valley and my previous employers to

pilot these devices at three rural schools and initial feedback has been very encouraging. We

have also recruited some interns to help us on this project and are in talks with a leading busi-

ness school in Nepal to start workshops on IT Change Management and IT Project Manage-

ment. So 2013 has lots in store on the work front.

The year 2013 also holds the possibility of me learning the art of political campaign manage-

ment as I plan to help my Mom with her run for a seat in the federal parliament this year. I am

hoping to eventually use these skills for my own campaign in the future. Being able to make posi-

tive changes in the lives of the people of Nepal by direct public service is my long term goal.

The last few months has also been the time for reconnecting with friends old and new. The

2011-2012 Humphrey Fellows from Nepal (Sanjay Neupane, Pooja Sharma and myself) hosted a

dinner for Iqbal Detho (2011-2012 Humphrey Fellow from Pakistan) in November when he was

in Kathmandu for a conference. 2012 ended on

a happy note for my family as my youngest sister

got married and she will be moving to Tampa,

Florida this fall (giving me one more reason to

visit America again ). The wedding was a great

occasion to meet the extended family after a

long time. Though the idea of celebrating New

Year’s in Lahore with Humayun and his family

did not materialize as I could not get a visa in

time (I hope the Pakistani government soon

returns the favor of granting visa on arrival, like

the Nepalese government does for citizens of

Pakistan), Christmas this year was special. I

travelled to New Delhi, India for a wedding of a

school friend where I met lots of my friends

from school after a gap of seventeen years and

spent the Christmas holidays catching up on our

lives since we last met. On the first day of 2013 I

met Sindhu Manjesh (2011-2012 Humphrey Fellow

from India) and would have met Maxwell alum

Prabhat Kumar if he did not have to travel out of

town on short notice.

In late January we celebrated Humayun's birthday till the wee hours of the morning (just like

2012), the only difference was that the party was hosted online on Facebook video link. It felt

great talking about what we were doing and how

we had been. The usual talking points like religion,

politics, music, movies and plain old gossiping made

us feel nostalgic about such sessions in Syracuse.

We ended the party by agreeing to 'beg, borrow or

steal' to pay for the trip to Turkey for the Humph-

rey reunion we had talked about in Syracuse. With

Humayun having gone ahead and scouting good

places to party in Istanbul we sure will have a good

time when we finally get there. What say Elena,

Hazim, Kristine, Kenyatta, Phone, Prateek, Rezwana,

Sania, Sheng and Sulaiman?

Above: Humphrey Fellows stay connected:

Brahma (right) and Sanjay Neupane (2011-

2012 Humphrey Fellow from Nepal, Universi-

ty of Maryland campus on left) hosted Iqbal

Detho ( 2011-2012 Humphrey Fellow from

Pakistan, Univ. of Minnesota Humphrey

School, in center) while he was visiting Nepal.

Above: Staying connected the high tech way:

Brahma, Humayun and his wife Sherrie,

celebrated Humayun’s birthday via Face-

book video chat. And from the looks of it,

other Fellows joined the conversation!