Every country must worry about its future intellectuals, professionals and leaders . Reproducing our thinkers and leaders does not happen by accident, it requires planning and forethought. Leadership in a democracy, obvious as it may be to you, requires investment in a diversity of fields and people. It also requires the capacity to reward, encourage and honor strong and rigorous independent thinking. I firmly believe that the International Fellowship Program will make a significant contribution to that end also.
Good investments bring good returns, even if takes a little time .
The International Fellowship Program is an investment in people. The returns to this investment will necessarily take its time. Of course, there is no absolute assurance that those things I plant will always fall upon arable land and will take root and grow, nor can I know if another cultivator did not leave contrary seeds before I arrived. I do know, however, that if I leave little to chance, if I am careful about the kinds of seeds I plant, about their potency and nature, I can, within reason, trust my expectations. The harvest, in developing countries, in the South, will be significant.