Promoting leadership for social justice is a central goal for the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP). Launched in 2000, it operates in 22 countries and territories in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, as well as in Russia. With an investment of $280 million, further enhanced by $75million in 2006, this is the largest single program supported by the Ford Foundation. At the end of a ten-year period IFP will have supported a total of 4,400 Fellows globally.

Building on Fellows' familiarity with grassroots problems, IFP seeks to raise their capacities- through knowledge, skills and networks- to become effective leaders in the struggle to improve lives in their communities, countries and regions. It seeks to build a new generation of social justice leaders who come from communities that have traditionally lacked access to higher education. Selection is on the strength of academic achievement, leadership skills and social commitment.

In India IFP has addressed marginalization through its support of candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Tribes, Other Backward Classes, religious minorities, women, the physically challenged and those facing severe socio-economic and educational challenges . The India program currently concentrates on specific States that are socio-economically or educationally backward, including Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir.

The aim is to enable such individuals to become catalysts of change in their community and help to create a more equitable society that gives space to people who because of their social, status, gender, economic background or disability would normally face exclusion from the decision-making and development process.
While promoting higher education at one level, IFP is deeply committed to issues of social justice leadership . It also links education with development. A unique aspect is the emphasis on social commitment and creating a new generation of leaders who voice the aspirations of the most marginalized groups and communities.