While many class initiatives were started to celebrate an anniversary, the one launched by the class of 1996 has a peculiarity: it started right when they were students at the Bologna Center.

During academic year 1995-96, the class decided to act on the basis of a simple but very powerful observation, i.e. that one of the key dilemmas the developing world has to face is a chronic lack of trained personnel. This is due, most often, to the fact that financial constraints make it impossible for citizens of the developing countries to have access to higher education institutions in the developed world. However, not only would students from the developing world benefit greatly from the type of education those institutions can offer, but those very same institutions (and the Bologna Center among them) would certainly benefit as much from the wider perspective those students may contribute to the academic and extra-curricular debate.

The result of this observation is the African Fellowship initiative, established by the Bologna Class of 1996 but open to all those interested in helping future generations of African students to benefit from a SAIS education.

Since 2000, the first year the fellowship was disbursed, 16 students have benefitted from the African Fellowship.

View Fellowship Recipients

• Loyford Mutuma Gitari (Kenya) - 2025, 2026
  Current SAIS student in Washington DC


• Unam Manzini (South Africa) - 2024, 2025
  Social Media Manager, Lynx Advisors, London UK


• Fatuma Hani Ibrahim (Kenya) - 2022
  Consulting Analyst (Somalia/Ethiopia) at Royal United Services Institute, London, UK


• Owulatosin Atala (Nigeria) - 2020, 2021
  Senior Program Manager at Amazon, Texas, USA


• Nnenda Chinda (Nigeria) - 2019
  Associate – Impact & Strategy at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, London , UK


• Pa Sako Darboe (The Gambia) - 2017, 2018
  Former First Secretary, High Commission for the Republic of The Gambia, Washington, D.C.


• Sasilkar Banu (Nigeria) - 2016, 2017
  Assistant Lecturer, Department of Defence and Security Studies, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, Nigeria


• Abdelghani El Gharras (Morocco) - 2008, 2009
  Senior Energy Analyst at L’Observatoire Mediterraneen de L’Energie (OME), Nanterre, France


• Thiras Habtu (Eritrea) - 2007, 2008
  Interpreter at Hemayat, Vienna, Austria


• Nuredin Netabay (Eritrea) - 2006, 2007
  Graduate student, Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame Indiana, USA


• Daniel Yeboah (Ghana) - 2004, 2005
  West Africa Institute (WAI)-Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI) Project Coordinator, West Africa Institute Praia, Cape Verde


• Christophe Dongmo (Cameroon) - 2003, 2004
  Senior Research Fellow and Community & Youth Advocacy Director at Water, Energy & Environment (EEE), Yaoundé, Cameroon


• Dauda Foday Suma (Sierra Leone) - 2002, 2003
  Principal Industrial Development Officer, African Development Bank Group, Abidjan, Ivory Coast


• Asmaa Shalabi (Egypt) - 2001, 2002
  UNDP Resident Representative, Bahrain


• Victor Abiola (Nigeria) - 2000, 2001
  Global Head, Operational Risk, Corporate and Investment Bank at Standard Bank Group Johannesburg, South Africa

This year, the Class of 1996 Fellowship recipient is Ms. Samaa Ahmed from Egypt.

On their 25^th anniversary, the class of 1996 decided to build on what they started while students. To celebrate this special reunion, they launched a new fundraising drive to endow a perpetual African Fellowship.

Classmates who are interested in joining this meaningful initiative should contact Clarissa Ronchi or Gabriel Cardona-Fox.

Make a pledge and/or a gift now on our Online Donations page.

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