Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellowship Archives

Check Out the Updated Fulbright U.S. Student Program Tutorials!

March 15, 2017

Our Fulbright U.S. Student Program tutorials have been updated for the 2018-2019 application cycle, which opens on April 3.

The tutorials are up-to-date, online slideshow videos designed for applicants and Fulbright Program Advisers (FPAs) to learn about program and application basics. Since some tutorials may be a prerequisite for attending webinars, we recommend that Fulbright applicants and FPAs review them before registering. We hope you find them useful and informative!

To listen to and watch our tutorials, click on the General Overview Tutorial below and here.

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U.S. Fulbright

Reflections on a Fulbright-Clinton Fellowship

July 27, 2016

Katelyn Leader, 2013-2014, J. William Fulbright – Hillary Rodham Clinton Fellow to Haiti (second from left), with her colleagues from the Haitian government’s Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation

I believe that mutual understanding is the foundation of tolerance and peace; it can only develop, however, when people are willing to listen to and learn from one another. This is such a simple notion, and yet time and time again, we see the consequences of it being forgotten by leaders and individuals.

In September 2013, I arrived in Haiti as a J. William Fulbright – Hillary Rodham Clinton Public Policy Fellow. I was placed in the government’s Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation, where I was assigned to the Division of Territorial Planning and Local and Regional Development. Over the course of my fellowship, my primary responsibility was to design and implement a study examining urban expansion in an area north of Port-au-Prince known as Canaan. Unpopulated at the time of the 2010 earthquake, Canaan now hosts more than 100,000 people. Many live in substandard, makeshift shelters without access to basic services. My colleagues and I conducted over 100 interviews with individuals living in this area, and the perspectives and information that they shared offered valuable insight into the country’s housing and urban planning challenges.

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U.S. Fulbright

From Apia to Paris: Combating Climate Change as a Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellow

April 22, 2016

Marie-Claire Tuzeneu, 2014-2015, Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellow to Samoa, attending the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris with the Samoan Delegation – the perfect conclusion to her Fellowship with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

In honor of Earth Day and the United Nations’ Climate Signing Ceremony, we are sharing Fulbright-Clinton alumna to Samoa Marie-Claire Tuzeneu’s testimonial of attending the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) last December.

Do you have a story to share about how you’re celebrating Earth Day today on your Fulbright grant? Send them here or share them on Twitter using hashtags #Fulbright and #earthday2016.

As a Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellow, I was placed with the Samoan Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE). A central part of my Fellowship was finalizing a review of Samoa’s climate change policies and programs and helping lay the groundwork for a new Climate Change Bill. This Bill will provide an official mandate for climate change work in Samoa and clearly delineate the roles and responsibilities of key government ministries. Finally, several months after completing my fellowship, I was able to rejoin my Samoan colleagues in Paris for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21), assisting the delegation by preparing remarks, taking notes during initial negotiations, and conducting background research.

My time at MNRE gave me a direct look at some of the challenges countries face when using external funding from sources such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for national and local development projects. I was also able to learn some of the detailed steps involved in managing one of these projects, from holding an opening workshop, to hiring project staff and consultants, procuring equipment, and preparing annual and completion reports. And I was able to make more general observations about the day-to-day running of a Ministry. I now know, for example, that in Samoan Ministries, email is not used as extensively as for communications in the United States. For example, important inter-ministerial communications are often printed with a cover letter and distributed by courier.

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