Melton Fellows Work Toward Systemic Change: Tackling Root Causes

Melton Fellows Melanie Miller Garrett (Melton Foundation Board Member) and Lars Dietzel (Melton Foundation Staff Member) were among the 50 participants chosen worldwide to participate in a 7-month leadership development course sponsored by Concorde Europe. Both Melanie and Lars will participate per the Melton Foundation’s organizational mandate.

The DEEEP Concord course,"Explorers’ Journey for Systemic Change: Tackling Root Causes," began this September and mixes online engagement (including webinars, tutoring and forum discussions) with on-locaction forums. It is based on the principle of learning for action to take participants beyond merely ‘understanding and knowing’ and helping them grow their leadership potential for systemic change.

The DEEEP project is a creation of the Development Awareness Raising and Education Forum (DARE Forum) of CONCORD and co-funded by the European Union. DEEEP is now in its 4th phase, which goes from 2013 to 2015. Consortium Members for this phase include: Kehys, OXFAM Italia, Sudwind, Grupa Zagranica, and IDEA (The Irish Development Education Association). Their aim is to challenge the classic approach to international development, believing it to fail to adequately address the root causes of inequality and injustice.

The core of DEEEP’s mission is to promote Systemic changes via the active engagement of citizens around the world.

"[The] international leadership development program...will take me to Brussels, Belgium; Johannesburg, South Africa and Tunis, Tunisia over the course of 7 months. More importantly, it will take me to the depths of myself, my motivation, my purpose. It will prepare me for the next opportunities that will surely present themselves. Just another opportunity to grow and make the world a better place, all borne out of my 23 years of being a Melton Fellow." – Melanie Miller Garrett, Melton Foundation Board Member