U.S. Fellow, Host Institution Supervisor, and Day-to-Day Contact Interview Guide

U.S. Fellow, Host Institution Supervisor, and Day-to-Day Contact Interview Guide

Interview Date, Place and Time:

Fellow’s name

Interviewer(s):

_______________________________

Gender (may not be asked)

F 1

M 2

other (specify) 3

Introduction and Consent

Good morning/Afternoon/Evening. My name is XXXXX and I work for GDIT, an independent research organization conducting a study on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. The purpose of this evaluation is to better understand program outcomes and help the Department of State improve the administration of the program. Today, we will talk about your experience with the PFP Program with [X] organization.

The interview will take approximately 40 minutes to complete. Your participation in this study is completely voluntary, and your answers and opinions will be kept strictly confidential. Your opinion is very important, and we hope you take the time to answer all our questions. We will never use your name in any written reports or give out any of your personal identification to anyone. If you don’t mind, we would like to record this conversation for research purposes only because we want to concentrate on the conversation. Do we have your consent?

Background and Program Experience

1. Very briefly, tell me a little bit about your professional background.

   1. How many PFP Fellows have you interacted with? [Were you a host each time?]

   2. Are you still part of the same organization where the PFP Fellow(s) completed their fellowship?

2. What was your role working with the PFP Fellow? What kinds of interactions did you have with them? What was the fellow asked to do at your organization and how did you help them achieve this? [Probe: overall and daily activities]

3. What did the PFP Fellow gain by working with your Institution? [Probe: specific knowledge or skill, contacts, interacting and network]

4. What did the PFP Fellow contribute to the Institution? How did you personally or other people benefit from his/her visit? [Probe: new techniques or procedures, exposure to a new culture, realization of mutual professional interests]

5. What challenges did the PFP Fellow face working at their host institution?

6. Did you work with the PFP Fellow to develop and define a project/action plan to implement when he/she returned home? If yes,

1. What was your contribution to the project/action plan

2. Can you briefly describe the content of the plan?

3. Did you have a designated role for the follow-up work?

7. Did you travel to the PFP Fellow’s home institution on a reciprocal exchange?

Only for the U.S. Fellows

8. How were you selected to visit the PFP Fellow? Did you complete an application?

9. How long after the PFP Fellow returned to their home country did you visit? [Probe: waited some time, immediately, many months later]

10. Can you describe the work plan for your visit? What type of work did you do (or who did you meet with)?

11. How long did you stay in [country]? What did you do there with the PFP Fellow?

12. How did you benefit from the exchange? [Probe: personally and professionally]

13. How did you contribute to the Fellows’ home organization?

14. Did you stay with a homestay host?

1. If yes, what was your experience? [Probe: what did you learn]

2. What were the benefits of staying with a homestay host?

3. What challenges did you have, if any?

15. What challenges did you face during your exchange?

16. Did you work with other U.S. Fellows during your exchange? If so, what did you do?

17. How did your institution benefit from having you participate in the exchange to the PFP home country? What did you bring back to your institution? (probe: new skills, global perspective, opportunities for collaboration)

18. Did you meet with representatives of the U.S. embassy during your visit or did representatives participate in any of the meetings?

For Everyone

19. Are you still collaborating, sharing ideas, approaches and strategies with the PFP Fellow? What type of collaborations have you had since they participated in the PFP exchange?

1. (For U.S. Fellow only) Are you still collaborating with the other people you met during your exchange to [country] – people at the PFP Fellow’s home institution, other colleagues, homestay hosts?

2. (For U.S. Fellow only) Are you still connected and collaborating with any U.S. Fellows?

20. Since the PFP Fellow’s exchange (or your exchange, if you had one), have you visited them or have they visited you?

21. Do you have any recommendations of how to make the program better for future PFP Fellows or U.S. host organizations? [Probe: discussing the idea, designing projects, sharing knowledge, apply what learned in workplace]

1. (For U.S. Fellow only) Do you have recommendations how to make the exchange visit better for U.S. Fellows?

Conclusion

Thank you so much for your candid feedback. Is there anything else that you’d like to share, or do you have any questions for us?

OMB Control Number: 1405-XXXX Burden Estimate:  40 minutes Expiration Date: XX-XX-XXXX

PRA Statement Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 40 minutes per response, including time required for searching existing data sources, gathering the necessary documentation, providing the information and/or documents required, and reviewing the final collection.  You do not have to supply this information unless this collection displays a currently valid OMB control number.  If you have comments on the accuracy of this burden estimate and/or recommendations for reducing it, please send them to: ecaevaluation@state.gov.