I am a YSEALI Professional Fellow!

On 15 February 2019, I received a piece of good news from the Program Director of the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL). That I had been selected for the ACYPL Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Professional Fellows Program!

Screengrab of the Invitation Letter

What is the YSEALI Professional Fellows Program?

It took me some time to understand how it works. If you're ready, let's go.

To answer this, let's first look at what's YSEALI. So according to the US Mission to ASEAN website,

Launched in 2013, the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) is U.S. government’s signature program to strengthen leadership development and networking in Southeast Asia. Through a variety of programs and engagements, including U.S. educational and cultural exchanges, regional exchanges, and seed funding, YSEALI seeks to build the leadership capabilities of youth in the region, strengthen ties between the United States and Southeast Asia, and nurture an ASEAN community. YSEALI focuses on critical topics identified by youth in the region: civic engagement, sustainable development, education and economic growth.

To summarise, YSEALI is the US government's effort to engage youths (35 years and below) in ASEAN. YSEALI programmes include academic and professional fellowships to the US, regional workshops within ASEAN and grant funding for projects.

Let's now zoom in to the Professional Fellows Program.

Based on the US Embassy Singapore website,

The Professional Fellows Program is a two-way, global exchange program designed to promote mutual understanding, enhance leadership and professional skills, as well as build lasting, sustainable partnerships between mid-level emerging leaders from foreign countries and the United States. The Professional Fellows Program brings emerging leaders from around the world to the United States for intensive five-to-six week fellowships designed to broaden their professional skills and expertise. Professional Fellows are selected via an open, merit-based application process. An integral part of the two-way program is for American participants who have hosted foreign fellows to travel overseas for participant-driven reciprocal programs.

The Professional Fellows Program is held bi-annually, in Spring, and in Fall.

There are four main tracks of the Professional Fellows Program, namely, Civic Engagement; Economic Empowerment; Governance and Society; Sustainable Development and the Environment. Each track is managed by different implementing partners, according to regions. Across the world, about 300 Professional Fellows will descend upon US.

For Southeast Asia (under YSEALI), the US State Department funds the implementing partners to manage the Professional Fellows Program for participating Fellows. The implementing partners for the above tracks are the University of Montana; American Councils; American Council for Young Political Leaders (ACYPL); and International City/County Management Association, respectively. 

So in my case, since I have been selected for the Governance and Society theme, I would be an ACYPL YSEALI Professional Fellow.

Group photo of YSEALI PFP Alumni and fellow Fellows at US Embassy Singapore

What will Professional Fellows be doing in US?

After an orientation in Washington DC, Fellows will be hosted by Placement Hosts for about four weeks. Placement Hosts include non-profit organisations, private businesses, and local government offices across the US. The experience gained will help Fellows develop individual action plans to address a challenge in their community or region to be implemented after the programme. 

Fellows will then return to Washington DC for the Professional Fellows Congress. This will also be the first gathering of all 300+ Fellows.

By the way, YSEALI was a signature initiative by President Barack Obama. In 2015, a Singaporean alumna had the opportunity to introduce the President to address the Professional Fellows:

I will be sharing my ACYPL YSEALI PFP experience in this blog. Stay tuned!