The Public Management institute is an intensive six-week professional development program exploring the current literature and practice of regional economic and workforce development; financial management in public and nonprofit organizations; planning and the global knowledge economy; and domestic and foreign development policies. Subthemes include civil/human rights; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) engineering; health/public health/medicine; public works (utilities/water/waste management); and women’s and girls’ issues. Our framework considers the ways nation, race, class, gender, sexuality, and globalization intersect to impact the experiences and agency of end users. Within the social sciences and civil and environmental engineering today, we realize that our understanding of society generally and appropriate technologies is merely partial. This is moreover the case in regards to our understandings of gender and health and appropriate water and sanitation technologies in African settings. While we have a desire to better understand and better promote social justice and adaptable technologies in African settings, we realize that the only way to do this would be to partner with stakeholders and work in concert to make positive contributions, in terms of gender, health, and technology. Connecting to 25 young African leaders during the six weeks of the Mandela Washington Fellowship provides a unique opportunity for free flowing conversations.
