The Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP) was a decade-long program that offered advanced study opportunities to more than 4,300 social justice leaders from the world's most vulnerable populations in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Russia. Launched with a grant from the Ford Foundation in 2001, IFP was based on an inclusive higher education model that prioritized social commitment over traditional selection criteria. In addition to academic and leadership potential, candidates were selected from groups and communities who lack systematic access to higher education. These groups included women, indigenous people, people with disabilities, and people from rural areas, among other groups.

A Secretariat in New York managed the program as a whole and set policy guidelines, while partner organizations in 23 countries managed key aspects of the program in each local context. Though IFP was a program supported exclusively by the Ford Foundation, the IFP Secretariat operated as an independent agency called the International Fellowships Fund, Inc., with its own administrative structure and Board of Directors. IFF distributed the funds provided by the Ford Foundation to partner organizations, which in turn distributed the funds to Fellows. IFF also partnered with the Institute of International Education for Fellows' university placement and financial management support, as well as office space and other administrative support for the staff of the IFP Secretariat.

During a one-year "Fellow-elect" period, IFP provided preparatory training and placement support to Fellows for entrance into universities. Working with local providers, the program offered pre-enrollment training on an as-needed basis in areas such as computer literacy, research skills and academic writing, as well as foreign language study. For about one-third of IFP Fellows, preparatory training continued after arrival at their host universities. During the Fellow-elect period, the selected candidates also received educational advising to help them refine their study objectives, which in turn facilitated their placement in universities.

Throughout their studies, Fellows maintained contact with program staff, submitting progress reports, requesting professional enhancement funds, and communicating about academic and personal issues. Program staff also provided support for "re-entry" into home countries after study was complete, and alumni organizations were often formed for networking and support. At the close of the program, IFP reported that more than 80% of IFP Alumni were living and working in their home countries or regions.

The IFP Secretariat was headed by Executive Director Joan Dassin. Dassin, who had previously served as the Ford Foundation's Regional Director for Latin America, coordinated the initial design process for IFP beginning in December 1999. She held the position of Executive Director from the date of IFP's formal launch in April of 2001 to its formal closing in 2013. She also served as IFP's regional director for Latin America.

Other members of the Secretariat staff included Rob Oppegard (Director of Finance and Administration); Mary Zurbuchen (Director for Asia and Russia); Joyce Malombe (Director for Africa and the Middle East from 2001-2007); Damtew Teferra (Director for Africa and the Middle East from 2007-2009); Barbara Wanasek (Grants Manager); Toby Volkman (Director for Special Projects), Ashok Gurung (program officer) and Rita Soni (Program Associate); Michelle Henry (Administrative Assistant); Alan Divack (Senior Project Manager, Archives and Knowledge Management); Diana Whitten (Director of Communications); Rachel Clift (Communications Officer); Daniel Reisner (Multimedia and Archives Officer); and Adriana Thoen (Administrative Manager).

IFP's international partners carried out the program in each of the 22 countries in which IFP operated. International partners' responsibilities included Fellow recruitment and selection, Pre-Academic Training, visa coordination for Fellows studying outside of their home countries, and monitoring Fellows' academic progress and general well-being during their graduate educations. International partners also helped to support local IFP alumni organizations which began to develop in the mid-2000s. International Partners and the countries in which they carried out IFP are as follows: Carlos Chagas Foundation (CCF), Brazil; La Fundación Equitas (EQUITAS), Chile; Institute of International Education (IIE), China and Russia; America-Mideast Educational and Training Services (AMIDEAST), Egypt and Palestine; Association of African Universities (AAU), Ghana; Center for Research on the Mesoamerica Region (CIRMA), Guatemala; United States Educational Foundation in India (USEFI), India; Indonesian International Education Foundation (IIEF), Indonesia; The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Kenya; Center for Research and Higher Education in Social Anthropology (CIESAS), Mexico; Africa-America Institute (AAI), Mozambique and South Africa; Pathfinder International (PI), Nigeria; Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP), Peru; Philippines Social Science Council (PSSC), Philippines; Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD) and West African Research Center (WARC), Senegal; The Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), Tanzania; Asian Scholarship Foundation (ASF), Thailand; Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) and Association of the Advancement of Higher Education and Development (AHEAD), Uganda; and Center for Educational Exchange with Vietnam (CEEVN), Vietnam.

IFP partnered with additional organizations and individual consultants to carry out projects including Fellow placement and education at universities around the world, program evaluation, the series of Leadership for Social Justice Institutes hosted by IFP between 2002 and 2007, and the development and maintenance of IFP's information technology infrastructure. These partners include over 100 universities worldwide with whom IFP established what the program referred to as strategic university partnerships (SUPs), based on the universities' demonstrated ability to support IFP Fellows. Other major partners include the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, which conducted program evaluation and alumni surveys for IFP. Nuffic and the British Council assisted the Institute of International Education in placing Fellows at universities in Spain and Portugal and the United Kingdom, respectively. The Spring International Language Center at the University of Arkansas provided English language training for Fellows who wished to study in the United States and United Kingdom. Finally, the Advocacy Institute and School for International Training played major roles in planning and carrying out IFP's Leadership for Social Justice Institutes.

IFP staff members recognized the long-term research value of the program's records, and began working to collect and preserve them well before the program ended. Alan Divack, Senior Project Manager, Archives and Records Management, joined the Secretariat staff in 2008. Divack worked with other IFP staff members and the Board of Directors to identify records with long-term value, develop policies and procedures for gathering and preserving those records, and make arrangements with an archival repository to house the records. The Board of Directors ultimately selected the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University for the latter role.

The Institute of International Education, which worked closely with IFP throughout the program, began a longitudinal study of IFP alumni in 2013 with support from the Ford Foundation. Its first report was released in April 2016. The records of this study will be added to the IFP Records when it concludes in 2023.