The Aspen Institute announced the 2016 class of the New Voices Fellowship, a groundbreaking program designed to amplify the voices of experts from the developing world in the global development discussion.
The 21 new Fellows are leading scientists, educators, doctors, policy experts, activists and economists, and come from 13 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. The full list of 2016 fellows and descriptions of their work can be found below and at: http://newvoicesfellows.
“With this class of new Fellows, we’re continuing to connect journalists and policymakers with development and global health experts from developing countries. Together, their first-hand perspectives can ensure that development policies are smart, effective and sustainable for the long haul,” said New Voices Fellowship Director Andrew Quinn. “We are excited to have our first Fellows from the Middle East and from South America, in addition to the strong representation from Africa and South Asia.”
Meet the Fellows
The 2016 fellows come from the Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, India, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Paraguay, Philippines Tanzania, Yemen and Zimbabwe. These fellows will undertake a program of intensive media training and mentorship to help them reach a broader global audience through both traditional and new media, as well as speaking engagements.
This year’s fellows include:
- a senior Liberian doctor spearheading the development of a vaccine against Ebola;
- a Kenyan activist championing the issue of mental health in developing countries;
- a doctor from the Philippines studying how climate change impacts global health in poor communities;
- a Yemeni gender rights expert now telling the stories of refugees from Syria’s conflict
The New Voices Fellowship expanded this year to include three specialized tracks of Fellows involved in Food Security, Vaccines & Infectious Diseases, and Development Policy & Finance.
- a Tanzanian economist working on ways to facilitate greater community involvement in major development finance decisions;
- a Nigerian public health expert looking to build on his country’s dramatic gains against polio;
- a Zimbabwean researcher pioneering work to strengthen Africa’s seed systems and ensure future food security for the continent
During the program’s first three years, New Voices Fellows were featured over 1,000 times in media outlets and delivered several TED talks. Under a training partnership with the Moth, a non-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling, New Voices Fellows have told their stories to live US audiences and through radio and podcast syndication.
Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the New Voices Fellowship was established in 2013 to bring the essential perspectives of committed development experts from Africa and other parts of the developing world into the global development conversation. Application to the fellowship is by nomination only, and nominations will open in September 2016 for the next class.
