A Diverse Global Cohort.
The 2025 cohort brought together 20 participants representing 18 nationalities across every world region, with more than half identifying with underserved or underrepresented communities. They were selected from 660 applicants across 74 countries.
Across the cohort, projects spanned a wide range of social and environmental challenges. The most common focus was SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), present in more than half of projects, followed closely by SDG 4 (Quality Education). SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 17 (Partnerships), and SDG 8 (Decent Work) each appeared in roughly a third, reflecting the cohort’s relational, cross-sectoral, and environmentally situated work.
What Changed Through the GSA Experience?
The Impact Report highlights several areas of growth across the cohort, including leadership agency, Theory of Change development, and stakeholder engagement. The clearest shift was in participants’ sense of agency: those reporting that they were actively enabling and driving change rose from 30% at entry to 53% at exit.
But the finding that stands out is a different one: Participants entered the program expecting to gain tools and methods, and left most changed by something they hadn’t anticipated: the quality of human connection. Cross-cultural communication, the growth area least expected at entry, was rated highest at exit. Satisfaction averaged 6.2 out of 7, and by the close of the program every participant who completed the exit survey identified as a global citizen, up from 90% at the start.
Behind those numbers are the changes participants named themselves: a deeper sense of agency, greater intentionality and resilience, a renewed connection to purpose, and a growing understanding of leadership as shared work rather than a solitary burden. One participant put it simply: “I am not crazy, not behind, and not wrong for leading differently.”
The Co-Lab Experience.
With Appreciation to Our Partners.
None of this would have been possible without the support of our co-sponsors, strategic partners, and local hosts. To the Ernst-Abbe-Stiftung, whose support made participation fully funded and accessible for the cohort; to our strategic partners, the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy and the Research Center Gotha (both belonging to the University of Erfurt); and to the many local collaborators and host organizations in Gotha, Erfurt and across Thuringia, we extend our sincere appreciation.
Learn more about GSA:
https://meltonfoundation.org/global-solvers-accelerator/
Read the full 2025 GSA Impact Report
Explore the stories, insights and outcomes from the 2025 GSA cohort and learn more about what changed through the GSA experience.
Read the full report