Country Director, Mutatsineza, attends Mandela Washington Fellowship Summit

Founded by President Obama in 2014, the Mandela Washington Fellowship
(MWF) is a flagship program of US Government’s Young African Leaders
Initiative (YALI). The MWF brings between 500 and 1000 African leaders to the US every year for a six-week program that focuses on developing leadership for those who show promise in business, entrepreneurship, public management and civic engagement. 

Fellows are paired with partner universities for six weeks and the seventh week of the program features a summit in Washington, D.C. allowing fellows an opportunity to network with one another and meet top US government officials. Upon return to their communities, fellows are expected to apply their
training. REAP’s Country Director, Jean Paulin Mutatsineza, is one of the six Rwandans fellows, selected in 2015. In 2016, he was awarded a grant through the same program to renovate the Girls’ Room (in day schools in Rwanda these are rooms where menstruating girls can rest and access sanitary supplies and pain medication) at the Duha Complex School. The US ambassador to Rwanda, Erica Barks Ruggles, inaugurated the Girls’ Room at the Duha School. Jean Paulin’s active involvement in the transformation of the
school community through MWF earned him the trust of other fellows and he was voted President of Rwanda’s YALI Alumni Association.
Alongside the other Alumni leaders, Jean Paulin was invited by USAID to represent the Alumni at the MWF Summit in August 2019 to meet potential funders and partners on behalf of the association and REAP.
During his three-week stay in the US, Jean Paulin was able to meet with potential partner organizations, REAP board and staff among many others. The trip allowed Jean Paulin to connect physically and intellectually with collaborators of the present and future.