Melton Foundation

Global Citizen Development Program for Melton Fellows

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Website

meltonfoundation.org

Countr(ies)

Chile, China, Germany, Ghana, India, and the United States

Grade Level of Students Participating

College undergraduates

Number of Students Participating per Year

25 per year, 500 to date

Year Organization Began

1991

Relationship to the public education system

Melton Foundation operates the program independently.

Organization’s Vision and Mission

Mission: The Melton Foundation promotes and enables global citizenship as a way for individuals and organizations to work together across boundaries of place and identity to address global challenges.

Vision: The Melton Foundation believes that the problems currently facing humanity can only be solved by working together across industries, sectors, cultures, and geographical boundaries to find solutions that benefit everyone.

By modeling global citizenship – whether in their communities or abroad – and by connecting to other similar-minded individuals and organizations through a “network of networks”, fellows create and expand perspectives on pressing global issues while contributing to a culture of collaboration and trust throughout societies.

Brief Description of Program Activities

In the Global Citizen Development Program, Fellows begin by participating in a learning program, both online and offline, in which they are trained in various skills, including project planning, cross-cultural communications, design thinking, and storytelling. The program enables Fellows to develop the skills and identify the tools they need to become better, more effective global citizens as they work towards lasting social change on local and global levels.

Following successful completion of the program, they are able to create or join projects within the program network. The Melton Fellowship supports emerging change makers and problem solvers throughout their academic and professional careers and beyond.

After their first three years, Fellows have collaborated together online with Fellows from all six countries, have participated in at least two Global Citizenship conferences, and have visited at least two countries where they work and learn together.

Program Content: Intrapersonal Competencies

The program aims to foster the intrapersonal competencies of initiative and citizenship. Fellows initiate, and implement projects on local and global level to create social changes.

Program Content: Interpersonal Competencies

The program aims to foster the interpersonal competencies of teamwork and empathy. Fellows participate in teams to collaborate on projects, doing research, interviews and, all the while, keeping in touch online.

Program Content: Cognitive Competencies

The program aims to foster the cognitive competencies of problem solving, ICT literacy, and critical thinking.
Fellows are asked to explore different perspectives on global topics - different ways of looking at an issue, using strategies such as systems thinking and multiple perspectives.

Program Content: Attitudes and Values

The program aims to foster the attitudes and values of teamwork. The Foundation emphasizes that today’s challenges require collaboration between people across cultural and geographical boundaries. The bringing together of Fellows creates a network effect.

Program Content: Pedagogy/Active Engagement of Students

The program engages participants through project-based and experiential learning in a spiral form. Fellows turn their ideas into action plans. During the implementation, they interact with staff and faculty who provide assistance when needed.

Reference List

1All information on this table come from the Melton Foundation’s website and from a phone interview with Winthrop Carty, Executive Director that took place in June 2016.

Prepared by

Vincent Chunhao Qian