The Asia Foundation Selects Class of 2021-2022 William P. Fuller Fellows in Peacebuilding

San Francisco, October 28, 2021 — The Asia Foundation is excited to announce the class of 2022 William P. Fuller Fellows in Peacebuilding. This group of fellows, which come from five countries in Asia, are an impressive group of emerging leaders with demonstrated leadership capacity and a commitment to advancing knowledge and practice across a range of peace-building efforts.

The evolving complexity of subnational conflict in the 21st Century requires significant investment in committed leaders who will innovate and drive solutions for peace. The William P. Fuller Fellowship in Peacebuilding is dedicated to addressing conflict and peacebuilding in Asia through the professional development of next-generation leaders. The Foundation’s Board of Trustees first established the program in 2004 to honor Dr. Fuller’s 15-year tenure as president. The fellowship reflects the organizations’ long-standing commitment to the field and Dr. Fuller’s particular concern of furthering the professional development of young Asians with leadership potential and professional dedication to advancing knowledge and practice regarding the management of subnational conflicts.

Following a redesign period, in 2021-2022 The Asia Foundation will launch a revitalized version of the program. We welcome for the first time a full cohort of six fellows for nine months of extended leadership training, professional development, and seminars with leading peacebuilding experts and institutions in the United States and globally. Each fellow will receive a $5,000 USD grant to support their individually tailored projects or help advance professional goals. The program will include extended engagement with the Foundation’s program teams, including the Conflict & Fragility programs and the Women’s Empowerment Programs. Emphasis is placed on building networks between fellows and the global peacebuilding community by connecting them to experts across a range of institutions and country contexts. Fully virtual, the 2021-2022 fellowship program works through training modules, online coursework, and a virtual study tour to support and elevate fellows’ development and work.

Fuller Fellows are early or midcareer professionals with demonstrated leadership in peacebuilding who actively promote peace through research, advocacy, policymaking, or other realms bridging knowledge and implementation.

Meet the 2021-2022 Fellows:

Ganesh Chaudhary (Nepal) is a journalist, dialogue facilitator, and published author of a book on peace and security concerning the Tharuhat Movement of Tikapur. He has worked closely with the Tikapur community, establishing a community radio station and building dialogue toward peace between Tharu and non-Tharu people in the area.

Kamala Bhattarai (Nepal) is a peacebuilder specializing in multi-stakeholder dialogue and strategic peacebuilding programs. She works on addressing root causes of conflict-related issues to caste-based discrimination, historical marginalization of indigenous communities, and gender-based violence. She also works as a dialogue facilitator in Jhapa, supporting women from marginalized communities.

Husni Mubarok (Indonesia) is a researcher at the Center for the Study of Religion and Democracy (PUSAD), Paramadina, and lecturer at the University of Paramadina, Jakarta. He graduated from the Center of Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS), UGM, Yogyakarta. He was awarded the Australian Award on Policies for the Disengagement and Rehabilitation of Violent Extremism in Australia in 2018 and has participated in various international conferences related to religion and peace. In addition, he has authored several texts on extremism, governance, and religious life in Indonesia.

Azizul Hoque (Bangladesh) is a Research Associate at the Centre for Peace and Justice, Brac University. He works with the Refugees Studies Unit on “Formulating a Roadmap for Further Localization of Humanitarian Response in Cox’s Bazar” and is one of the innovators of “Trust Network,” an emerging Participatory Action Research approach that has been piloted during Covid-19 in Cox’s Bazar. He co-facilitates academic courses and is a trainer of community-based experiential learning for peace in Cox’s Bazar. His research and publications examine governance and social justice, educational leadership, and peacebuilding in the emergency context of refugee crises.

Mirak Raheem (Sri Lanka) is an independent researcher and activist working on human rights and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. In addition to being involved in advocacy with policymakers, he has documented, researched, and published on a diverse range of issues related to peacebuilding. He has recently finished a three-year term as a Commissioner of the Office of Missing Persons, an independent state mechanism established by the Sri Lankan government to trace the fate of thousands of disappeared persons over years of conflict.

The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia. Informed by six decades of experience and deep local expertise, our work across the region addresses five overarching goals—strengthen governance, empower women, expand economic opportunity, increase environmental resilience, and promote regional cooperation.

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