The Fisher Family Summer Fellows Program on Democracy and Development is a training program hosted annually by Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). Launched in 2005 and formerly known as the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program, it brings together a group of approximately 28-30 mid-career practitioners from transitioning countries who are working to advance democratic practices and economic and legal reform in contexts where freedom, human development, and good governance are fragile or at risk. From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, our program participants are selected from among hundreds of applicants every year for the significant contributions they have already made to their societies and their potential to make an even greater impact with some help from Stanford. We aim to give them the opportunity to join a global network of now nearly 500 alumni from 97 countries who have all faced similar sets of challenges in bringing change to their countries.

The Fisher Family Summer Fellows Program provides an intensive 3-week on-campus forum for civil society leaders to exchange experiences and receive academic and policy training to enrich their knowledge and advance their work. Delivered by a leading Stanford faculty team composed of Michael McFaul, Kathryn Stoner, Francis Fukuyama, Larry Diamond, and Erik Jensen, the program allows emerging and established global leaders to explore new institutional models and frameworks to enhance their ability to promote good governance, accountable politics, and find new ways to achieve economic development in their home countries.

Our fellows live on the Stanford campus for the duration of the program. They spend part of their time in classes with CDDRL faculty that are tailored to the interests and experiences of each cohort. In addition, the program includes visits with Silicon Valley technology and social media firms to examine the tensions between technology, democracy, law, and development. Esteemed guest lectures are also presented by individuals from the greater Stanford community, like Law School Professor Pamela Karlan, Hoover Institution Director and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor Saumitra Jha, among many, many others. Outside of Stanford, the program has included visits by Eric Schmidt (former CEO of Google), the chairman of the National Endowment of Democracy, foundations that fund international development, and members of different branches of the governments of the United States and the state of California.

Since its creation in 2005, the Summer Fellows Program has been generously funded by Bill Draper, the late Phyllis Draper, and Ingrid Hills. It became the Fisher Family Summer Fellows Program in 2023, in honor of an endowment gift from Sakurako (Sako), ’82, and William Fisher, MBA ’84, that will secure the program’s future in perpetuity.

The Leadership Academy for Development (LAD) at Stanford University trains carefully selected government officials and business leaders from developing countries who have responsibility for crafting policies and programs that will strengthen the private sector’s role as a constructive force for economic growth and poverty alleviation in their countries. Using a specially designed, innovative curriculum, LAD’s week-long intensive course modules provide participants with a robust analytical framework that will strengthen their ability to act as effective catalysts for policy reform in countries where government capacity to drive change is relatively weak. From a multi-disciplinary idea born in 2010, LAD has grown into a successful and far-reaching education program. 

With minimal staffing and a bare-bones budget, LAD has developed an original, robust curriculum and formed solid, ongoing institutional partnerships on three continents. We have executed successful programs in Peru, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Kurdistan and South Africa (among others) and taught over 1500 rising leaders from 60+ developing countries.

Originally based at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, LAD is now housed within the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, part of Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Funding to support LAD programs has been generously provided by individual donors, Luminate Group, the Hurford Foundation, the Smith-Richardson Foundation, and Stanford.

CDDRL’s Strengthening Ukrainian Democracy and Development (SU-DD) Program, formerly the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program, is a 7-week training program for Ukrainian practitioners and policymakers. Launching in the autumn of 2022, SU-DD provides a unique opportunity for up to 10 mid-career practitioners working on well-defined projects aimed at strengthening Ukrainian democracy, enhancing human development, and promoting good governance.

SU-DD builds on some of the successes of our Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program, which was housed at CDDRL beginning in 2017. Since then, CDDRL has hosted 12 Ukrainian fellows across 4 cohorts. SU-DD aspires to multiply this success and increase our impact in Ukraine in a number of ways:

• First, we seek to make the experience of Ukrainian fellows at Stanford more structured and impactful by requiring them to devise focused projects as part of the application, and then by working with our faculty before they arrive at Stanford to further refine these projects so that they can provide actionable solutions to current challenges for Ukrainian democracy and human development.
   
• Second, by shortening the length of the program to a maximum of 7 weeks at Stanford, we can bring more Ukrainian policy influencers to campus and be more impactful with developmental solutions as a result.
   
• Finally, by including the Ukrainian fellows in CDDRL's Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program, we seek to create connections, synergies, and a deeper understanding of shared development problems and solutions from a variety of country contexts. This program will also expand the network for our Ukrainian fellows to draw upon as they continue their work to strengthen democracy and development when they leave Stanford.