Mason Fellows Mark 40 Years of International Development

By Alvin Powell

Contributing Writer

To Filipino peasant organizer Corazon Juliano-Soliman, HarvardÕs Mason Fellows Program is Òa gift of time.Ó

Juliano-Soliman has labored for years to reform a landowning system that has many Filipino farmers toiling on wealthy landownersÕ haciendas. This year, she is one of 55 fellows attending the Edward S. Mason Program in Public Policy and Management at the Kennedy School of Government.

The Mason Fellows Program, Harvard's oldest and largest international program, offers a year of study to high-level public sector professionals from developing and transitional-economy countries. In the process of pursuing a master's degree in public administration, the fellows share their experience of development challenges with each other and expand their own proficiency with the tools needed to effect change in their home countries.

The Program boasts a distinguished group of alumni, including the president of Costa Rica, Jose Maria Figueres, and five of his cabinet ministers. Other graduates include Tirunellai Narayanaiyer Seshan, an Indian chief election commissioner known for his determined pursuit of electoral reforms and resolute actions to bring order, fairness and integrity to elections in the world's largest democracy, and the Rev. Frank Chikane, former head of the South African Council of Churches, organizer of South Africa's first post-apartheid elections, current chief of staff to deputy President Thabo Mbeki and newly elected member of the ANC National Executive Committee.

This year marks the ProgramÕs 40th anniversary and Kennedy School Dean Joseph S. Nye Jr. said heÕd like to see it continue to grow.

ÒThe Mason Fellows come from public service and go back to public service, so the Program helps fulfill the role of the school,Ó Nye said. ÒThe fellows also bring with them a wealth of experience that enriches all of us here.Ó

The Program was started by Edward Mason, a Harvard economics professor and dean of the Graduate School of Public Administration who also played an instrumental role in forming the Kennedy School of Government. The program has always been a joint effort of the Kennedy School and the Harvard Institute for International Development.

Mason believed Harvard should extend a hand to developing nations and founded the Development Advisory Service, through which Harvard faculty provided advice on economic and other development issues. The Development Advisory Service was the precursor to the Harvard Institute for International Development.

The work of Harvard faculty overseas helped them identify potential leaders in the government ranks of the developing nations. Mason brought the first group of students, then called Public Service Fellows, to Harvard during the 1957-58 academic year. Since then there have been 1,250 of these fellows at Harvard, many of whom have gone on to take leadership roles in their homelands.

Mason Fellows are selected according to their leadership abilities, their commitment to public service, and their academic achievement, said Carol Grodzins, director of the Mason Fellows Program. Grodzins spends three months each year traveling around the world, interviewing prospective fellows, talking with alumni, and contacting donors who can help with expenses. The Kennedy School has not been able to offer financial assistance to international students.

Cost can be one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome, Grodzins said. Last year she recruited 17 students from Africa but only 3 were able to find the funding to attend Harvard. That is a particular problem in a section of the world like Africa, where a lot of development progress is needed, she added.

ÒWe believe if youÕre serious about development, you have to be serious about Africa,Ó Grodzins said.

Finding ways for students to afford the Program is the most immediate challenge facing it, Grodzins said. Some of the richer countries in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe have scholarship programs designed to reward excellent government service and to train future policymakers. Poorer countries can't afford to send civil servants to Harvard. Outside of government, in journalism, politics, and the nongovernmental sector (e.g., advocacy groups), very few resources are available.

"Civil society leaders are important policy advocates, innovators, and change-makers," Grodzins said. "We need their thoughtful contribution here at the Kennedy School to improve governance into the 21st century."

Over the years, the type of student accepted by the Program has changed. From its initial focus on civil servants, the Program now views the public sector broadly. It has expanded to include people from nongovernmental organizations, journalists, politicians, people from regulated industries, from regulatory boards, and private sector professionals considering a public life.

The ProgramÕs strength is its student body, Grodzins said. The students, some of whom have struggled against repressive regimes, bring a breadth and depth of experience that enriches both the University and the Mason Fellows Program.

ÒSometimes they can talk about things that they couldnÕt talk about at home,Ó Grodzins said. ÒOn occasion, for our students, itÕs been a time to be safe. ItÕs a respite. The fellows' courage, intelligence, commitment and relentless determination impress me deeply."

For Corazon Juliano-Soliman, the year at Harvard is a chance to reflect. Juliano-Soliman and her husband, Hector Soliman, are both Mason Fellows, a fact that allowed them to move here for their year of study with their two children. Hector Soliman was the deputy assistant secretary for the PhilippinesÕ Department of Agrarian Reform.

After more than two decades of work, first for democracy in the Philippines and later for reforms to spread economic gains more broadly, Juliano-Soliman and her husband enrolled in the Mason fellowship program as a chance to pause and refresh themselves.

ÒThis is really a gift of time,Ó Juliano-Soliman said. ÒWe planned it this way as a kind of sabbatical to reflect on the last 23 years.Ó

Though she enjoys the variety of subjects presented by the Program, Juliano-Soliman is particularly interested in economics. On returning, she hopes to be more effective in pushing for reform because she can voice her arguments in the language of economics. She also sees the network of former Mason Fellows as a resource she can tap.

ÒI can see in the next four or five years that many of the people IÕm in class with are leaders and organizers who will have an impact on our lives,Ó Juliano-Soliman said. ÒI said to them, ÔIf youÕre going to be transferring your waste to our country, IÕm going to call you.Õ Ó

Other students are planning to work for reforms from within their governments. Nkateko Nyoka was an activist in the struggle for justice in South Africa. After the country's first democratic elections in 1994, Nyoka worked as a managing secretary for a committee of the Constitutional Assembly, which wrote South Africa's new constitution.

Nyoka facilitated drafting the constitution's chapters on public administration, property and land rights, finance, security services, and its commissions on human rights and gender equality. The experience made him realize how little he knew about the structural workings of government.

"I was involved in the anti-apartheid struggle, but I had no idea of the intricacies of managing public sector organizations," Nyoka said. "I feel that after the experience with the Mason Fellowship Program, I will be better equipped to cope with the enormous challenges facing South Africa in the arena of public service reform and the management of change during the transition from apartheid to democracy."

Professor Emeritus Raymond Vernon worked with Edward Mason to set up the Development Advisory Service and the fellowship program. Vernon said the success of the Program can be measured by the numbers of graduates who became government ministers or played other prominent roles. He said heÕs seen the Program broaden its focus from general planning to specialties such as education and health.

Vernon said the challenge for the future will be to adapt to a world where communication will shrink distances and industrialization will transform developing nations.