Storytelling for Change by Melton Fellows.
A hands-on workshop by Fransiska Tirtoadisurja, United Nations Representative for UN ECOSOC (New York HQ), Delegate of BIRD (Paris), Co-Founder of Kita Peduli Indonesia Foundation (Denpasar, Indonesia), and a participant of the Melton Foundation's Global Solvers Accelerator, that uncovers city planning and its importance in a post-COVID world.
Daphne Chebesi, a Junior fellow with the Melton Foundation from Cameroon and a student at Ashesi University is fundraising to support the education of primary school pupils who have been internally displaced by the civil crisis in the English-Speaking Regions of her country. Through her project inspire for peace, she aims at providing school bags, notebooks, and school stationery for 100 Internally displaced aged primary school pupils who are currently studying in Douala Cameroon, home to one of the largest populations of internally displaced persons from Cameroon’s English-Speaking Regions.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, The Melton Foundation hosted a TownHall dedicated to the cause of women empowerment and gender equality.
The cultural fabric of India is akin to a colorful mosaic of religions, languages, cultures, literary pieces, philosophies, and relics. The sheer diversity found in the country, interspersed with varying strands of thoughts, beliefs, and ways of life, is of gargantuan dimensions. The integration of different cultures over millennia has yielded a rich heritage, comprising a number of literary texts, architectural creations, and philosophical sects. Globalization, and therefore global citizenship, is a phenomenon which underlines the evolution of the Indian society and has worked its way into the mindset of the people for thousands of years, resulting in the interwoven societal setup existing today.
The best way for a global citizen to begin her journey is to explore her local environs and work towards creating models for problems that exist in different corners of the globe for implementation in the local setup. The local sphere is where the most visible changes occur, the site of the real empowerment of communities.
We, as a human race, have come a long way. From being nomadic tribes to constructing skyscrapers, the Homo Sapiens have traversed the globe, setting up civilizations in the remotest lands and sailing across the seven oceans. Despite the intermingling of societies, accelerated by globalization 18th century onwards, the hindrances to Global Citizenship have only increased. What are Melton Fellows doing to change this narrative, and make Global Citizenship an everyday reality?
The SDG Innovation Challenge is a virtual ideathon for motivated young people from across Africa to come together in developing practical solution ideas for challenges faced in their local communities at the grassroots level.
The global health pandemic left a visible mark on the DNA of the Melton Fellowship program and the formats in which Melton Fellows connect and engage. Marten Schinke, Melton Fellow from Jena (GER) reflects on his motivations when embarking on his Global Citizenship journey with us - and how this motivation has evolved and become stronger along the way. (article language: German)
At the Climathon Hangzhou, in 24 hours, 8 teams of 28 students participated in the competition. They worked together to provide innovative solutions to the environmental problems faced by the city of Hangzhou in China.
In October 2020, the Melton Foundation organized a Mental Well-being Workshop for members of the network. Hosted by Senior Melton Fellow Dr. Vernice Richards, a Ph.D. holder in Sports Psychology and Performance Psychology Consultant, the workshop explored a topic deeply resonant with the current background of the COVID-19 pandemic - ‘Uncertainty’. As emphasized at the very beginning of the event, the objective of the workshop was to make one feel uncomfortable, get out of one’s comfort zone, and ask and answer some serious questions.
