Last year, we welcomed Shamil Idriss, the Chief Executive Officer of Search for Common Ground to SPIA as a part of our Leadership Through Mentorship program where he gave a talk on Transforming Conflict into Cooperation in a World in Crisis. This year, we held our first ever information session in Mali at the Search for Common Ground offices in Bamako.

Special thanks to Ikenna Ugwu MPP '21, currently with the World Food Programme in Mali, and to peace and security activist Fatma Al Ansar, for helping to coordinate an exciting and engaging conversation in a complex and challenging context with so many passionate change makers in Bamako.

When you leave sessions like those we held in Mali, full of peace activists, change agents, humanitarians, and government servants, it is hard not to have hope. Hope for Mali, hope for the Sahel, and hope for the region.

We are delighted people came from Timbuktu and other far-away locations to meet us in Bamako, and that so many of our alumni working in Mali and the Sahel (you know who you are!) were so quick to help link us to those doing great work and to provide recommendations on people and organizations that we can engage as we think broadly and intentionally about all the possible pathways to Princeton. Thank you.

From all of us at SPIA, we look forward to welcoming some of you to campus to polish your policy toolkit, expand your network, and make great friends. We likewise look forward to your return to Mali to continue creating change.

#Internationalization #PrincetonisPossible