Program Description
The United States Educational Foundation in Nepal (also known as the Fulbright Commission and/or USEF-Nepal) is pleased to announce the competition for the 2023-24 Humphrey Fellowship Program. The Humphrey Fellowship Program provides mid-career professionals from designated countries around the world with an opportunity to enhance their professional capabilities through participation in specialized, 10-month, non-degree programs developed for small clusters of Humphrey Fellows at selected U.S. universities.
The Humphrey Program was initiated in 1978 to honor the memory and accomplishments of the late U.S. Vice President and Senator, Hubert H. Humphrey. Fellows are selected based on their potential for national leadership and commitment to public service, in either the public or private sector. The Program provides a basis for establishing long-lasting productive partnerships and relationships between citizens of the United States and their professional counterparts in other countries, fostering an exchange of knowledge and mutual understanding throughout the world.
The Humphrey programs do not have a traditional discipline-oriented focus; they emphasize problem-solving and experience-sharing. The programs are not degree-related or aimed at providing scholarly preparation or basic training in a field. The objective is to provide Humphrey Fellows with an overall experience that broadens their perspectives, enhances their capability to assume greater career responsibilities, and provides opportunities to establish useful professional contacts. The programs include various combinations of coursework, independent projects, internships, consultations with U.S. faculty or experts, field trips, and special seminars. Under the guidance of a designated faculty advisor or "coordinator," Fellows plan programs that best suit their individual career development needs.
Financial Provisions
The Humphrey Fellowship provides:
- a monthly maintenance stipend
- accident and sickness coverage
- tuition and university fees
- round-trip international travel to the host institution (and to the Fellow's English-language training program when applicable), and domestic travel to required Humphrey workshops and seminar events
- settling-in allowance, book allowance
- computer subsidy (when applicable)
- and professional development allowance
Note: Humphrey Fellowships are not renewable.
Study Fields
These priority fields align with U.S. foreign policy and Mission goals and advance the development of a network of international leaders with experience in the United States who serve as key interlocutors for posts.
Sustainable Development:
- Agricultural and Rural Development
- Economic Development/Finance and Banking
- Natural Resources, Environmental, and Climate Policy
- Urban and Regional Planning
Democratic Institution Building
- Communications and Journalism
- Law and Human Rights
- International Religious Freedom
- Public Policy Analysis and Public Administration
- Trafficking in Persons Policy and Prevention
- Technology Policy and Management
- Human Resource Management
Education
- Educational Administration, Planning and Policy
- Higher Education Administration
- The teaching of English as a Foreign Language
Public Health
- Public Health Policy and Management
- HIV/AIDS Policy and Prevention
- Substance Abuse Education, Prevention, and Treatment (see note below)
- Contagious and Infectious Diseases
Important Dates
- Application Deadline: 24:00 Midnight, July 23, 2022
- Interviews and Nominated candidates informed: September, 2022
- ECA reports final selection results: February, 2023
- Program start: August, 2023
Eligibility Requirements
Except in the field of journalism, candidates must be policy-makers, managers, or administrators in leadership positions with a commitment to public service from the public or private sectors including non-governmental organizations. Fellowships are competitive and will be awarded on the basis of excellence in professional and personal qualifications as well as leadership potential.
All applicants must
- Possess Nepali citizenship.
- Have a demonstrable commitment to public service and potential for national leadership.
- Be employed at a mid-career, policy level with progressively more responsible working experience in the government, NGO, or private sector.
- Have at least 5 years of progressively more responsible professional experience in Nepal as of the application submission deadline of July 23, 2022. Volunteer jobs, internships, and work done as a requirement for an academic degree shall not be counted towards the required duration of work experience.
- The professional experience should be in the relevant field, after the completion of a university degree i.e. a 4-year bachelor’s degree, or if the bachelor’s degree is of a 2-year/3-year duration, then a master’s degree is also required. Candidates who have two or more 2-year/3-year bachelor’s degrees in different fields but who do not have a master’s degree are ineligible to apply.
- Be proficient in speaking, reading, and writing English.
- Be eligible for a non-immigrant J-1 U.S. visa.
- Have a demonstrable commitment to public service and potential for national leadership.
- Have a wish to develop problem-solving capacities, enhance capabilities to assume greater career responsibilities, and return to a significant public service role upon completion of the Humphrey Program.
The Humphrey competition is not open to
- Recent university graduates (even if they have significant positions),
- University teachers with no management or policy responsibilities (except in the fields of Substance Abuse Education, Prevention, and Treatment and Teaching of English as a Foreign Language),
- Individuals who have attended a graduate school in the United States for one academic year or more during the seven years prior to August 2023,
- Individuals with U.S. in-country experience of any kind lasting more than six months during the five years prior to August 2023,
- Individuals with, or in the process of obtaining, dual U.S. citizenship or U.S. permanent resident status, and
- Employees of USEF-Nepal and local employees of the U.S. Mission in Nepal who work for the U.S. Department of State, and their spouses and dependent children (they are ineligible for grants during the period of their employment and for one year following the termination of employment).
Click here to find the application link and procedure.
