Global Programs.

Young Leaders Fellowship

The Young Leaders Fellowship Program trains young leaders from across the world to develop and apply solutions to the issues facing their communities in the areas of education, health and economic security.

About the Program

What is it

The Young Leaders Fellowship Program equips young leaders from around the world with the project management skills and leadership competencies needed to address their communities’ most pressing issues. Through this year-long program, young leaders will identify and articulate a challenge in their community in the areas of health, education, or economic security and will be mentored and trained to devise a solution to this challenge by way of an implementable project plan. 

This Fellowship is open to young leaders aged 18-26 who desire to effect meaningful change in their communities in the areas of health, education, or economic security while growing in their ability to lead effectively. 

Contents of the Program

What We Offer

All mentees are guaranteed of gaining increased knowledge and practical experience in the following four cornerstones of our Fellowship:

Leadership Development

What is leadership? What is good leadership? How can we contribute to our communities’ unique challenges as young leaders?

One of MCW Global’s core tenets is leveraging leadership as a tool for community development. Through this Fellowship, mentees will answer these questions by deconstructing the concept of leadership through program activities and discussions with co-mentees and selected speakers.

Global Citizenship

What does it look like to be part of a global village? How do my actions affect the people and communities around me in both the physical and virtual worlds? To whom am I accountable?

The Fellowship reinforces the interdependence of our existence and uses the Global Citizenship segment to highlight our connectedness and, therefore, our responsibilities to one another.

Self Awareness

What kind of leader am I? How do my core values influence my priorities as a leader? What makes me different, and how does that affect my interactions with others in my diverse community?

The Self Awareness segment held by expert consultants in Personal Development sheds light on our unique qualities as individual leaders and provides mentees with insight into their personalities.

Vision Planning

What problem is my community facing? Why does it matter to me? How do I solve it? How do I balance my grand ideas with action and pragmatism?

The Vision Planning segment is an in-depth exercise that takes mentees on a journey to understand their community’s problems in health, education, or economic security and craft a corresponding solution in the form of a project plan. The mentees will be trained in identifying community challenges, conducting social assessments, stakeholder analyses, market research, strategic planning, operations management, and impact measurement.

Structure of the Program

How Does it Work?

MCW Global’s Young Leaders Fellowship begins with the Community Needs Assessment – A one-month community needs mapping that prepares young people, between the ages of 18-26, from around the world to understand their local communities and their challenges better. After the community needs assessment, Young Leaders participate in a one-month intensive Virtual Program that helps them become leaders of positive change in their communities. After Virtual Learning, participants spend 10-months developing their action plans with support from alumni mentors.

After Completing the Fellowship

What next?

As an alum* of the Young Leaders Fellowship, you will be eligible to participate in MCW Global’s alumni-exclusive programs: The Community Leaders in Africa Internship program and the Alumni Ventures Fund program.

Check open calls

Hear from our Alumni

Fellowship Alumni Testimonials

What was the impact of the program on you and your project?
As a mentee of the 2020 cohort of MCW Global, the first ever to experience the program remotely, I had several personal and professional challenges to conquer at the time. From adjusting to the overall lifestyle changes that the pandemic presented to managing burnout from work, the fellowship empowered me not only with the practical tools I needed to succeed in my community project but it also equipped me with mindfulness practices that helped me replenish my physical and emotional energy at the time, along with my capacity to focus. This greatly impacted me during one of the most challenging years up until that time in my life. I became more productive while interacting with a great group of visionary young people from across the globe!
Xana Maunze, Mozambique
Young Leaders Fellowship 2020
How did the program increase your knowledge about leadership and global citizenship?
Through the interactive sessions that we had, focusing on the breakout sessions or brainstorming sessions, in solving and proposing solutions together with totally different people from around the world. With the final project, you are doing the whole project by yourself with the help of the mentors and the activities that we had as homework.
Marko Paloski, North Macedonia
Young Leaders Fellowship 2021
What skills did you develop during the Fellowship?
The program immensely helped me to improve my self-awareness skills. I believe this is an essential skill for young people because it helps to guide us towards a path that will be fulfilling no matter the challenges. In addition, I have engaged in marketing strategy, SWOT analysis, elevator pitches, and so much more foundational planning that I would recommend other young people to develop. While the "behind the scenes" work in a project may not be glamorous, it is the backbone of a project. Your project will only be as successful as the amount of work you put into it.
Lisa Hussain, Guyana
Young Leaders Fellowship 2021
What did you gain from the Fellowship?
The Young Leaders Fellowship was a milestone in my life once I developed fundamental skills for elaborating social impact projects. I received improvement training during the program and aligned the necessary resources to build my idea. The program's scope is aimed at a growing development of a sense of leadership and global citizenship through full coexistence with young leaders from all over the world, lectures on relevant topics, and practical activities guided by mentors. Thus, I developed skills such as effective communication, team building, time management, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
Bruno Lopes, Brazil
Young Leaders Fellowship 2019

According to our alumni, the kind of person that should apply for this Fellowship is someone who...

... is open to new and diverse cultures, willing to work for others, and have the dedication to influence and participate.
Ahmed, Syria
... is honest, has a ridiculously open mind, and is not afraid of challenges.
Umaru, Sierra Leone
... is ready to apply global experience to community impact.
Vee, Nigeria
... wants to make a positive change in their communities through innovative and inclusive approaches.
Ayeshwini, Bhutan
... is eager to help its community overcome the obstacles it faces. As so, the mentees should be able to empower the people in their communities (and outside it) to be and do better for the benefit of everyone surrounding them.
Vasco, Portugal
... wishes to hone his/her skills, improve networking abilities and access practical information from a diverse range of experts to help achieve leadership goals.
Ibrahim, Uganda