Economic Empowerment Program - Mansfield Center

The spring 2013 Professional Fellows Congress concluded, with great success, thanks to our amazing Asian and American Fellows and the support of the U.S. State Department! Read the Professional Fellows Digest to see highlights about our participants, including a spotlight on Leslie Jensen, of Missoula's First Interstate Bank!

The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center (MC) of The University of Montana (UM) is honored to host a program of the U.S. Department of State, the Economic Empowerment Exchange Program for Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. This program specifically seeks out participants who seek to be empowered with concrete skills they can use to generate economic growth, with the objective to increase incomes and reduce poverty in their respective countries through access to more economic opportunities.

In our program, 20 Southeast Asians and 20 Americans will travel in four cohorts from April 2013 - January 2014. Southeast Asian participants will engage in a 37-day program in the U.S., while U.S. participants will travel overseas for an average 16-day program.

With participant Fellowships as a centerpiece, our program offers a hands-on approach to issues shared by the countries of Southeast Asia in cultivating economic empowerment. The program features business-skills training that culminates in each participant developing an action plan to advance the project goal which is building economic opportunity from the ground up by supporting participants in their efforts to broaden social opportunity and to ensure that the benefits of growth and trade are more widely distributed.

A key aspect of the program is empowering people with the skills to increase economic productivity. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated, “…we have helped integrate billions of people across the region into the global economy by spurring economic productivity, social empowerment, and greater people-to-people links. We are a major trade and investment partner, a source of innovation…a champion of open markets, and an advocate for universal human rights...”

Our foreign and Montana partners join us in this opportunity to advance economic opportunities for more people, and empower those from disadvantaged groups to benefit from these opportunities.

Quick Facts To Know About the Program

US Department of State Professional Fellows Program Overview

Executive Summary

Extended Program Description

Program Calendar

To Participate:

Foreign participants: The application period in most countries is closed. However, interested applicants in Burma may email Kelsey Stamm (kelsey.stamm@umontana.edu) their applications (click here for Burma application).

Read roles and responsibilities for Southeast Asian participants.

Read professional fellows program description from the U.S. Department of State.

American participants: Apply now, serve as a Fellowship Coordinator, or a host family for our visiting participants.

Thai participants: Click here for application in Word format.

Application for US participants only.

Read roles and responsibilities for American participants.

Fellowship Coordinators: We are seeking professionals from the business and non-profit community in Montana to participate as Fellowship Coordinators for our foreign participants. If you have expertise in business skills and are interested in hosting a foreign participant, find out more about this opportunity here or contact Kelsey Stamm for more information.

Host families: We are seeking host families for our visiting participants from Southeast Asia. This can be anything from hosting them for an evening at your home, at a community event, at a Passover meal, an Easter celebration, or a two-week homestay. If you’re interested in being involved, please contact Kelsey Stamm.