The Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows Program trains emerging leaders in the fight to end hunger worldwide. It is a memorial to the late Representative Mickey Leland, who spend his life-fighting hunger in the United States and around the world.

The Leland Program shares with emerging leaders out vision of a world free from hunger and invests in these leaders to develop the tools they need to work toward this goal throughout their lives.

Leland fellows develop and strengthen professional and leadership skills while actively working to build food and nutrition security through programs and policy. The Leland Fellowship consists of field placement and a policy placement, each 11 months long. During the field year, fellows work at a programmatic level to support food and nutrition security interventions. During the policy year, fellows apply their knowledge and experience to the design of sound development policy at the organizational, national, and/or international level. The fellowship years can be in either order.

Leland Fellows are placed with host organizations who design the fellow's work plan and supervise the fellow's day-to-day work. Most fellows serve their field and policy placements with the same organization, but it is possible for a fellowship to be split between two different organizations. Leland host organizations include international and local NGOs, research institutions, private sector entities and UN agencies. 

Fellows work on a variety of issues related to food security. Past placements have included:

• Agriculture productivity
• Maternal and child nutrition
• Humanitarian nutrition
• Homestead gardening
• Social inclusion
• climate-smart agriculture
• agribusiness development
• Market systems
• Gender equity
• Water, sanitation, and health

Fellows do a variety of types of work. Past work plans have included:

• Quantitative and qualitative research
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Program design
• Nutrition assessment
• Knowledge management
• Advocacy
• Capacity building
• Coalition-building
• Training
• Communication
• Policy analysis

Field and policy placements are coordinated so that the fellow sees one issue from two different perspectives and gains experience along the full field-policy spectrum.

Leland Fellows are selected based on their demonstrated leadership qualities, experience, maturity, flexibility, and commitment to fighting hunger. Eligible candidates have spent time working or volunteering in a developing country and possess a relevant graduate degree or equivalent experience. Some placements may require specific skills such as foreign language fluency, a particular graduate degree or expertise, or other technical skills. Leland Fellows must be authorized to work in the United States for the full duration of the program. The procurement or extension of this authorization is the responsibility of the applicant.

• graduate

• US Citizen
• Permanent Resident
• International or Other Visa Status