Lamees Abdullah Dahaq, 23, has a mission: to inspire young people in her home country of Yemen to become more active citizens and leaders. Dahaq, who works in a nongovernmental organization, believes young people hold the key to overcoming obstacles that have prevented Yemen from becoming a healthy democracy: among them, poverty; poor education; and a culture that pushes girls to marry young, raise families, and eschew careers.

“The problems we face come mainly from the people, from cultural traditions,” believes Dahaq, who coordinates leadership training for high school graduates. “And young people are the ones best able to make a change.”

To learn more about democracy and advance her political goals, Dahaq applied for and was accepted to the Leaders for Democracy Fellowship program. LDF is a four-month training and internship program, run by Maxwell and funded by the U.S. Department of State, and held for the first time this winter. The 21 young Arab leaders taking part in the program included other NGO workers, activists, journalists, lawyers, consultants, a government official, politicians, and a CEO. In addition to Yemen, the fellows hailed from Syria, Bahrain, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Palestine, Qatar, Oman, Iraq and Jordan. These 12 countries are diverse in politics, history, culture, religion and geography, but, according to Steven Lux, most of them are struggling to establish democratic institutions. As director of international programs in Maxwell’s Executive Education division, Lux oversaw Maxwell’s operation of the LDF program.

LDF operates under the umbrella of the State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), which, since 2002, has committed roughly $293 million to programs that promote democracy, education, economic strength, and women’s rights in the region. According to Ben Orbach, MEPI’s deputy regional coordinator, fellows are the “crčme de la crčme” in one or more of these areas, selected for their potential to educate their fellow citizens.

In all, the fellows spent four months in the United States, starting with a three-day orientation in Washington, D.C., in late January, which included a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. They then spent a month taking classes at Maxwell; the 30 faculty members were drawn from Maxwell, as well as Syracuse University’s communications, management, and religion programs.

From there, participants embarked on three-month internships in Syracuse or Washington, D.C., in their fields of interest. Dahaq, for example, went to the American Federation of Teachers in Washington, which is in the process of creating a teachers’ union in Yemen. Others worked at the United Way and the Post-Standard newspaper in Syracuse; and, in Washington, at the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, among others.

The State Department chose Maxwell from among 36 competitors to host the LDF program; according to Orbach, Maxwell’s proposal was the strongest—academically, logistically, and philosophically. State especially liked the plan to place some interns in Syracuse. “Their proposal really offered the opportunity for emerging, budding activists to learn about democracy at the grassroots level,” Orbach says.

The coursework at Maxwell—which included lectures, panel discussions, and lots of discussion time—was designed to cover democratic concepts comprehensively and comparatively, says Lux. Faculty discussed democracy from three perspectives: transitions to democracy, where they presented case studies of countries that have undergone the process; managing a democracy so its ideals are preserved on a practical level; and fostering civic participation through citizenship, private action, and private enterprise. That last notion, says Lux, was novel for many fellows, who weren’t aware that entrepreneurship could help foster positive change.

It wasn’t always easy making course content relevant to all, Lux admits. Not only were the fellows from diverse cultures, but their attitudes toward the United States were complex. Many said they admired the American political system, for example, but disagreed strongly with American foreign policy in the region.
That said, fellows were delighted with the program’s intellectual rigor and the chance to do practical internships, they said.

“I love the fact that the program combines a theoretical part and a practical part,” says Samuel Yousry Tadros, a political activist and member of Egypt’s liberal party. “It stimulated our thoughts. I bought about 50 books on democracy! And we get to do something practical, too.” Tadros headed to an internship at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank where he expected to meet high-level analysts with political persuasions different from his own.

Given the importance of fostering relationships with thoughtful young leaders like these, the program will continue in several ways, says William Sullivan, who directs the Executive Education program. Maxwell will host ongoing alumni events in the Middle East, he says, and encourage ongoing communication between fellows and Maxwell faculty.

“We’re looking forward to building a good strong network with these young leaders that’s going to be valuable for them and for us,” he says.

                                                                                     —Tori DeAngelis