Hennepin County hosts international fellows

At the August 20 board meeting, the Hennepin County Board formally welcomed and recognized three professionals — Bangaly Sylla from Guinea, Salissou Mahamadou from Niger, and Stephan Rafidimanantsoa from Madagascar — who were selected to participate in the Professional Development Experience (PDE) component of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, the flagship program of the U.S. Government’s Young African Leaders Imitative (YALI). 

These fellows are accomplished leaders and have established records of promoting innovation and positive impact in their communities and countries. Throughout August, each of the fellows we hosted collaborated with different departments across the county. We celebrate their vision and appreciate the opportunity to learn from their ideas and diverse perspectives.  

Sylla is a non-profit director from Guinea. The Strategic Planning and Initiatives department hosted Sylla where he learned about the county’s approach to strategic planning and measuring progress. He also learned valuable skills for managing initiatives stemming from strategic plans to inform his non-profit’s work.   

Mahamadou is an electrical engineer who specializes in renewable energy in Niger. He spent his time working with the Facility Services and Climate and Resiliency departments. Mahamadou provided insightful feedback for Hennepin County's residential weatherization plan and worked on several solar power projects within Facility Services.  

Rafidimanantsoa works for the Court of Accounts of the Supreme Court of Madagascar. While with the county, he worked with the Compliance Office. Rafidimanantsoa plans to take what he learned about the frameworks for an effective compliance program back to his government.  

This year, 100 Mandela Washington Fellows were competitively selected from a pool of 50,000 applicants to take part in the PDEs — four-week professional placements with U.S. non-governmental organizations, private companies and government agencies like Hennepin County. These PDEs help both the fellows develop their skills and offer everyone the chance to work together and learn from each other.  

Learn more about the Mandela Washington Fellowship.