The Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP) was a groundbreaking fellowship program furthering leadership and social change across 22 places of origin in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The Fellowship was funded by the Ford Foundation from 2001-2013. In 2013, upon the end of the program, the Ford Foundation commissioned the IFP Alumni Tracking Study implemented by the Institute of International Education.
The impact journeys of IFP alumni since the Fellowship began in 2001 are paired in this volume with the journey of IIE’s research team, which implemented the IFP Alumni Tracking Study from 2013 – 2024. With the research study’s purpose to measure the impacts of IFP on the alumni, their organizations, communities, and social change more broadly, the volume serves as a testament to what we learned from IFP’s impact and the research process of measuring global leadership and social change. The weaving of these two journeys inspires reflection on international fellowships and scholarships for social change, and the research that furthers the field in knowledge and practice.