Mickey Leland Hunger Fellows

David M. Thompson

Amy Damon is just one of the eleven Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows that the Congressional Hunger Center has placed around the world this past year to address root causes of hunger. Like all Leland Fellows, Damon spent one year living and working for an anti-hunger organization in a developing country, and she is currently in the midst of the second year of her fellowship, examining the influence of domestic and international policy on global hunger and poverty.

Every two years candidates can submit applications for the Leland Fellows Program, which sends up to fifteen emerging anti-hunger leaders to work in either multilateral institutions like the UN World Food Programme, bilateral agencies like USAID, or international and local non- government organizations like Catholic Relief Services. Damon worked with a local advocacy organization in El Salvador called La Fundacion Nacional Para el Desarrollo (FUNDE) while in the field, and now that she has returned to Washington, DC, she is applying her grassroots knowledge and her training in agricultural economics to work at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

The Congressional Hunger Center (CHC) also administers a second fellows program that focuses on hunger within the United States. The Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellows and the Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows learn from each other, following the pattern of cooperation modeled by former US Representatives Mickey Leland (D-TX) and Bill Emerson (R-MO). Founded by Congressman Tony Hall (D-OH), the CHC is currently chaired by Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO). Both Hall and Emerson are faithful friends of CHC and the Leland and Emerson Fellows, and they are champions on behalf of those who are hungry in the United States and around the world. Recently, Mr. Hall was appointed by President Bush to serve as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Agencies in Rome, Italy.

In the spirit of this bipartisan tradition, CHC labors to gather a robust community of emerging anti-hunger leaders. Leland Fellows collaborate with each other and across different kinds of development institutions and social environments. In addition, they are challenged to think about healthy approaches to leadership, sustainable development, and partnership. Benefits include a monthly stipend, insurance, travel funds, and an end-of-service bonus. The Congressional Hunger Center begins recruiting for its new class of Mickey Leland International Fellows September 30, 2002. Visit the CHC website to apply: www.hungercenter.org/international.

The Congressional Hunger Center strives to fulfill its mission of fighting hunger by developing leaders. Reflecting on her fellowship experience, Damon says, "The Leland International Congressional Hunger Fellowship has allowed me to integrate previous field experience and technical training to not only contribute to my organizations' broader anti hunger mission, but to my own professional development as well. As I continue my work in the international development field, I will undoubtedly look back on these two years as pivotal ones, strengthening my abilities to contribute to the global fight against hunger and those factors which contribute to poverty and food insecurity around the world."

Thompson is the Co-Director of the Mickey Leland International Congressional Hunger Fellows Program of the Congressional Hunger Center in Washington, DC.