We're introducing a new way to feature our fellows each month, with five key questions each month. This month, we talked to Melton Fellow Parithosh Jayanthi, and hear more about his interests, inspiration and ideas for our future as Global Citizens.

For the third year, a delegation of 6 Melton Fellows is part of Climate Reality’s Leadership Training in support of one of the biggest challenges the world is facing today: Climate Change. The Melton Foundation is teaming up with Climate Reality to help empower future Climate Leaders as they build awareness for the climate crisis and develop shared, sustained solutions.

For the second year in a row, a team of Fellows from the Melton Foundation (MF) has put global citizenship values into action through citizen journalism, giving a voice to those that are not heard. Melton Fellows partnered with mentors from Global Voices to learn how to write and publish for a journalistic outlet.

Good ideas need space, time, exchange, and effort to thrive. The Idea Incubator 2014 helped four Fellows’ cultivate their ideas, so that big ideas can become reality and the projects can be scaled for success.

Springboard Sessions, one of the big highlights of the 2014 GCC, offered the audience four powerful stories from different parts of the world. The audience -- comprised of GCC participants, Dillard University students and faculty, and external guests -- were blown away by the profound insights behind each story.

One of the most essential aspects of being a changemaker is learning what has already been accomplished. The Melton GCC field trips combined organizational focus with local, New Orleans' solutions to global challenges.

In her remarkable presentation on Crowdfunding, Gwen Nguyen from Indiegogo shared with Melton Fellows the best practices for raising money leveraging the power of the internet. Started in 2008, Indiegogo pioneered the crowdfunding movement.

It is often said that valuing diversity is one thing, but applying it is another. After speaking and sharing about diversity in language, culture, communications, self identity and more, Melton Fellows and Dillard University guests were able to tackle the disconnect. Using gender-based violence, the conflict in Israel and Palestine and sustainability as frames of reference, the dialogue on diversity was able to turn from the theoretical to the applied.

Even the best ideas have pitfalls. The Melton Foundation Idea Incubator Co-Lab at the Global Citizenship Conference (GCC) is where participants identify - and solve - them.

As scores of students across the world begin university this fall, we must ask ourselves how these institutions can best serve society’s pressing needs. Unfortunately, what works best for undergraduates has most often been available only to the privileged few: the best being individualized, interdisciplinary education that stimulates critical thinking as it teaches young people skills that satisfy both human and economic needs.

What do you do with your damaged appliances? Do you try to fix them or do you just throw them away? If you're like most people, you throw them away, mainly because you're not sure where to get them repaired and purchasing a replacement seems like the easier solution. 

For their third afforestation drive, the BMS campus introduced a new and innovative iniative in partnership with the Rotaract Club of Peenya. "New Spark to the Park" is spreading awareness in the local community about the benefits of "greening" -- and what better way than to restore a ruined community park? 

A visit to a rural school in Mañiuco, Chile, helped build stronger self-esteem and peer relationships in children, and also resulted in a slight but impactful change to the Social Service Project from the Universidad de la Frontera (UFRO) campus.

The Melton Foundation, one of the world’s leading proponents of global citizenship, is thrilled to announce the addition of their first partner campus in Africa, Ashesi University College. Located in a town among the hills and farms outside of Accra, Ghana’s capital, the addition of Ashesi University College is a pivotal move for the Melton Foundation. 

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," starts this September 2014 and mixes online engagement (including webinars, tutoring and forum discussions) with on-location meetings.

Springboard Sessions are talks that inspire, challenge and, above all, motivate people to take action on some of today’s most challenging problems. At the 2014 Global Citizenship Conference Springboard Sessions, you’ll experience incredible leaders from around the globe sharing intimate stories from their lives and work. Springboard Sessions are the stimulus for new thinking and new action for global citizens – in New Orleans and beyond.

The Melton Foundation's ClimatePUSH Project screened three sessions of environmental films to the people of Temuco, Chile. Every session was followed by a group debate, where participants shared their impressions and insights, and as a fitting finale to the event, An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary on global warming was presented on the big screens of Aula Magna in Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) in Temuco. 

Melton Fellows Karla Palma and Daniel Vera were among the 130 participants from 40 countries attending Brown University’s International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI), which brought together people from all over the world to address global issues through collaboration across academic, professional, and geographic boundaries. 

When was the last time you traveled the globe in just one evening? MF Fellows on the Friedrich Schiller Universität campus team accomplished just that earlier this summer on June 30th, piloting their unique event, "Around the World in One Evening."

The Israel-Palestine conflict has constantly been in the media for the past several years. In July, we’ve seen a new set of disturbing pictures and news coming out from Gaza. And we have all read about the ongoing fighting, the latest developments, the peace missions, and the official statements. But...do we really understand what the conflict means to the people who are affected?
 

Like many Indians, the only time Ria saw transgender people was at traffic lights, panhandling – a symptom of being shunned by society. Curious about what it means to be LGBT in India, she decided to invite members from the LGBT community to her university for an eye-opening session.

Melton Fellows at BMS College of Engineering in Bangalore ask their classmates how they plan to reduce pollution and save energy, through simple acts, and publish their answers through pictures! #ClimatePUSH

Senior Fellows from MFZU have created a forum to share life experiences and positive energy, to promote exchange and learn from each other.

The Melton Foundation is pleased to announce a partnership with Indiegogo for its future crowd funding campaigns. Indiegogo will be our official platform for sponsored activities that are seeking support through crowd funding, including Fellows' projects.

On June 21, Joshua Goldstein, Principal Director for Economic Citizenship & Disability Inclusion with the Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International gave Melton Fellows at BMS Campus an insight into making microfinance more inclusive of persons with disabilities (PWD).

The Global Selection Team (GST) is looking for volunteers to implement the selection of new Melton Fellows at our partner universities and to constantly evaluate the process. Join us and help select the new generation of Melton Fellows!

Have you heard?

The first two of our four #100Acts workshops at the 2014 Global Citizenship Conference are now live! We're delighted to announce that:

Jennifer Hardin, Executive Director of Evacuteer.org, that recruits, trains and mobilizes New Orleanians to assist in the event of a future evacuation (because of hurricanes or other disasters) will be leading...

On our most recent visit to Mañiuco School in rural Chile on June 4, 2014 we introduced the school children to their Chinese counterparts from the Liangshan School in rural China, as part of the Chile-China project that connects school students from different parts of the world with each other to understand what global citizenship means... even at age five!

Our commitment to Global Citizenship starts with the right to education for all children everywhere. Time to make sure school is something that many more citizens take for granted, time to share your story!

Join the campaign before July 2014!

On April 30, 2014, the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and the Melton Foundation convened a group of representatives of leading global networks to investigate and share best practices. As the world becomes ever more connected and with new networks seemingly being launched every day, this meeting was a way for organizations with global networks to pinpoint good practices, challenges, and solutions to successfully deploy networks across countries and continents for transformative change.  

A free-ranging conversation spanning the role of “cruise directors” to encourage social interaction among network members/communities to the critical need for shared values to inform a network’s cohesiveness, produced the following key takeaways and framework for operating as networks.

Melton Fellow Olaf Schiller was making a short trip from Germany to Haiti to teach young men to repair motorcycles. How did his act of global citizenship connect the two countries?

Concerned about our planet’s survival, Eva was changing her food habits to be more eco-friendly. But one simple adjustment she made not only helps reduced the amount of plastic in the world, but also saves her money and finds her new friends. Read on to find out about the “magic” key.

What is Rwanda teaching the world about social healing and the limitations of forced reconciliation twenty years after the genocide? How do you make the case for intercultural understanding and citizenship education? How can we use movies and documentaries to promote peace and cooperation? These are just a few of the compelling questions that Melton Fellows Diana Heuss and Julian Klauke will tackle together with Learning Coordinator Markus Lang at the International Conflict Resolution Education (CRE) Summit, June 11-16 at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia (USA).

Melton Fellow and Board member Melanie Miller Garrett is one of 100 educators and education experts from around the world to develop Global Citizenship Education Targets and advocate their inclusion for the successor program to the Millennium Development Goals beyond 2015.

While still in school, Karla Araya wanted to take action against climate change. She decided to start with the most immediate sphere of influence – her family. 

“Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world,” said Howard Zinn. But most people, though they have the will to take action, often lack the path and the time... even for small acts. That's why we are launching a bold new program: 100 Acts. So that busy people like you can take action in small, meaningful and tangible ways. 

Melton Fellow Marjorie Garces in taking her PUNCH! project to Israel in collaboration with Alex Stein, a US visual artist focusing on environmental sustainability and culture, with a major new event called "Art Knows No Borders".

Victor Hugo once said: “all the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come,” and here we are, challenging the world with great ideas! For the third time, we invite Melton Fellows to submit their project ideas to the MF Idea Incubator.

Apply before 10 May 2014!

Melton Day has always been a special day in the Melton Foundation. It’s a day to come together around the world in celebration of our founder, Bill Melton’s birthday. This year, Melton Day also marked the start of an adventure of a different kind: The 2014 Postcard Adventure.

Upon arriving in Oxford two weeks ago for my 2^nd Skoll World Forum, I immediately remembered why I was there: I was joining 1,000 carefully selected leaders from around the world for three days of intense brainstorming, talks, and stimulating conversations - often over great food and English beer. Every time I struck up a conversation it was with somebody who had started a business, created an amazing NGO or social enterprise, or had published something I had read.

The Melton Foundation, in collaboration with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs is delighted to host "Leveraging Global Networks: Best Practices" on April 30, 2014. This luncheon workshop aims at sharing the practices and pitfalls of expanding professional networks, and connecting people with a demonstrated experience in managing global networks.
 

Two Melton Fellow projects - UFRO Fellows' Mañiuco Community Education and ZU Fellows' Global Citizenship Education - are coming together! In April 2014, primary school students at Liangshan School in China virtually "met" their fellow global citizens halfway across the world, at Mañiuco school in Chile, through a video, postcards and presentations made by the school students and Melton Fellows. This "meeting" was a step in the bridge that is being built from Chile to China (and vice versa) as Fellows expand their efforts to bring global citizenship education to primary schools in each country.

Two Melton Fellows, Karla Palma and Daniel Vera, have been selected to participate in BIARI 2014, ​Brown University’s International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI) initiative that brings together people from all over the world to address global issues through collaboration across academic, professional, and geographic boundaries. 

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This week, Executive Director Winthrop Carty will be raising our flag high at the 2014 Skoll World Forum in Oxford, UK.

The Project Team Mutual Building just got back from the Easter Island, Chile, where they had the chance to get a deeper understanding of the Rapa Nui's culture. Now they prepare for their next encounter in Germany. 

At the Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training (12-14 March 2014) in Johannesburg, Melton Fellows networked with climate leaders from around the world, discussed the latest about the effects of climate change, and prepared to spread an important message: Everyone has the power to act and help solve the climate crisis.

African Campus Search Committee members Susan Steiner and Winthrop Carty were recently in South Africa to visit five potential partner universities in four cities!

New Fellow Orientation 2014, Cologne, Germany, March 6 - 9, 2014

Every year, we bring together the newest Fellows to join the Melton Foundation for their first in-person, face-to-face meeting. This year, 18 Fellows met, exchanged views, learned about Global Citizenship concepts and realities based on each other's life experiences, and...?

Check out the pictures to see what else! And see more on our Facebook page.

We are now opening the call to Melton Fellows to Join the Melton foundation’s Grant Committee. Here’s what it takes to become a member.

We accept applications until 31 March 2014!