2003 Class of Senior Fellows Will Strengthen Grantmaking Foundations Around the World

December 3, 2002 -- The Synergos Institute announced today the names of the 14 members of the 2003 class of Senior Fellows. Each Senior Fellow is a chief executive or senior manager of a grantmaking foundation focused on poverty alleviation or community development. Through the Senior Fellows program, they respond to requests for technical support from other grantmaking foundations in developing countries, sharing knowledge through consultancies, workshops and other events. At the same time, the skills of the Fellows themselves are honed, as Fellows share learning and experience with each other and Synergos through writing assignments and workshops at the country, regional and global levels.

2003 Senior Fellows

Together with members from the classes of 2001 and 2002, the Senior Fellows number 33 individuals from 16 countries. (Members of the inaugural 2000 class Fellows remain involved in the learning aspects of the program, but do not provide consultancies through the program.) In the last year, Senior Fellows have participated in 22 technical assistance events including consultancies and workshops, and learning visits in 11 countries benefiting over 100 organizations.

One of the new Senior Fellows is Olabisi Adeleye-Fayemi, Executive Director of the African Women's Development Fund, based in Ghana, which advances women's political and economic enfranchisement. Among the strengths she brings to the program is expertise in foundation formation, board development and grant administration. In addition to using this knowledge to benefit foundations around the world, she will take advantage of her three-year fellowship to learn more about endowment fundraising and resource generation from Diaspora communities. Because of Ms. Adeleye-Fayemi's leadership roles in Grantmakers Without Borders and the International Network of Women's Funds, Synergos is hopeful that what she learns will benefit a broad range of people and actors in West Africa.

Another new Fellow is Ingrid Srinath, Director of Resource Mobilization of Child Relief and You (CRY) in India. Among foundations in the developing world, CRY is a leader in outreach to the public and business sectors -- selling holiday cards, stationery and other products to the Indian public both to raise money and also to build awareness about the plight of poor children. Ms. Srinath brings to the Senior Fellows team substantial experience in marketing and cooperative efforts with the business sector -- two areas of expertise in increasing demand by emerging foundations.

Synergos' John Heller, who directs the Senior Fellows program, states "The first three years of the program have demonstrated how much knowledge about foundation building already exists in the developing world. The sharing of that knowledge among peers -- foundation leaders themselves -- can have tremendous development impact. I'm excited that the new Senior Fellows will be part of this."

The Senior Fellows program is part of Synergos' broad efforts to increase the capacities and resources of African, Asian, and Latin American foundations to reduce poverty and increase equity. Such foundations not only mobilize financial resources for development action, they also often help build cooperation among civil society, the business sector, government or other actors to promote cooperation around critical social issues.

For More Information

Read a more detailed description of the Senior Fellows program or contact:

John Heller
Associate Director, Foundation Building Services
tel +1 (212) 447-8111
fax +1 (212) 447-8119
seniorfellows@synergos.org