The Melton Fellowhip: Where you become the change
There are 7.7 billion people who share this planet. Just think of the impact all these people could have if they worked together, from climate action to eradication of poverty: It would be huge! So, how again do I change the world from where I stand?
The issues we are facing today are complex by nature, and global in its effects. Unless we take more ownership of our role in a global society and learn to mobilize communities around the world, effects will be sporadic at best and keep us from creating the impact we need to achieve these goals.
The big question remains: How can each and every one of us take real and effective action for a better world?
Global Citizenship
A mindset and a framework for action, global citizenship embraces the idea that all humans – regardless of their nationality, culture or socio-economic background – have a shared responsibility for our planet. Global citizenship holds the idea of a global community, in which individual actions, altogether, impact our society at a global scale. This is why it calls to collaborate beyond boundaries of place and identity, to realize that local actions anywhere across the world can spark change, and to tap our interconnectedness as humankind to leverage local impact globally.
Real people, in real communities are the ones that drive change in the most impactful way. Acknowledging that we have the power to impact others around us, is the first step towards empowering global citizens! While individuals may not be able to change the world on their own, it is not hard to imagine how far we could reach when we connect, share and engage at scale, creating a larger web of inspiration – and action!
This may sound easy, but when putting this into practice, we soon come to terms with the fact that collaboration across boundaries is a more complex that it seems. It requires to learn with and from each other, practice, and often a significant shift in mindset. This is what the Melton Foundation does to empower global citizens around the world. Questions and doubts about how to make a difference in the world are present constantly. Not as intimidating uncertainties, but as fuel to train the critical thinking, curiosity to learn about each other and the world, and to push the needle and change the way the world works, one act at a time.
Like Howard Zinn said: “Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”
Into the Melton Experience
Because the global citizenship muscle needs to be trained, the Melton Fellowship provides young, curious individuals from different cultures and backgrounds with experiences that propel their ability to communicate effectively across languages and cultures, and work together on solutions to pressing challenges in communities across the globe.
Since 1991, the Melton Foundation has groomed a network of more than 550 fellows, which capitalizes on the power of friendships as a catalyst for social change: Fellows explore frameworks and challenges while developing strong bonds of trust throughout the Fellowship.
Joining the Melton Fellowship gives you access to hundreds of global problem solvers, who are connected to you through shared motivations and the passion of making the world a better place – one act at a time!
Join the Melton Fellowship
The Fellowship starts with an experiential learning program for students at our partner universities, who can apply to join the Fellowship. After being selected into the program, your local peers will welcome you into the fellowship and help you find your own role and place in the local team in order to be prepared for all the experiences ahead!
But where is everyone else? Each year, up to 20 Fellows from across the globe join the Fellowship each year. Shortly after you join the foundation, you will start learning and working with your global peers through video calls and online activities. With purposeful digital connections becoming your new best friend, you can expect to up your understanding about different cultures, global collaboration and design thinking together with your peers.
After an eight-month online program to train your problem-solving muscle, you will finally meet your batch mates in person. And a whole world of opportunities is opened before you!
Opportunities for Action
Once you become a Melton Fellow, the doors open for you to involve with different opportunities and collaborate with your peers and external partners, both locally and globally. Your engagement in intercultural experiences and problem-solving dynamics will prepare you to become a qualified global citizen, who can work hand in hand with their community to address issues facing our society today, in a 2,5 years journey.
In the Melton Foundation, every instance and connection is a responsibility and a chance to join efforts with wider communities of change makers and problem-solvers. The New Fellow Orientation, the annual Global Citizenship Conference, co-organized events, the Acts of Global Citizenship and your own projects and collaborative initiatives, are just some of the opportunities you will get to strengthen your Fellow bonding and get a deeper understanding about issues like sustainability, technology and equality in your journey as part of the Melton Foundation.
Along the Fellowship journey, the network you find and create becomes ground for new connections and ideas, sharing experiences and learnings, creating new tools, approaches and communities, and empowering our motivation and passion as Melton Fellows and global problem-solvers. It is a community to deepen our reflections, celebrate our results, our cultures and identities, and most importantly, an opportunity to grow as global citizens and human beings.
A life-long network all around the world
Once you graduate from the program and become a Senior Fellow, you will become part of our supported network of global problem-solvers from across sectors and industries. As you embark on your own professional journey, your peers will be just a message away when you seek or offer support for exciting ventures, social enterprises and novel approaches to drive change as a global citizen. The Melton Foundation is a world of support and powerful connections. The training years end, but the learning never does!
So, what is the value to hold?
The Melton Fellowship is not an academic or professional training; neither a regular scholarship that is valid for just some time. It is much more than that: the Melton Foundation offers an integral learning journey to effectively drive sustainable solutions together with a growing community of change-makers!
The Melton Fellowship is a unique growth opportunity, a nourishing community of agents of change, and a home for passionate skilled people who share the greater purpose of building deep connections that can yield powerful actions!
Some refer to it as network, others as family – but the meaning is truly yours to create. When you join the Melton Foundation, every human connection is part of wider, life-lasting impact in our world. When you connect to others and differences are not an obstacle but a strength, and when action comes from mutual trust, shared values and the conviction difference can be made if we work together – then you are now part of the change!
