Deadline: 15 October 2019
The Aspen Institute in Washington DC is seeking nominations for its 2020 New Voices Fellowship which is a year-long program that provides intensive media and advocacy training for frontline development experts.
With support from a team of experienced mentors and trainers, New Voices fellows develop and amplify their ideas to bring about meaningful change. Candidates for the Fellowship are expected to have both a record of significant professional achievement and a desire to share their perspectives on global development with a broader international audience. The Fellowship is open by nomination only.
While the fellowship is non-resident and not full-time, it does require a significant and sustained time commitment as fellows write opinion articles, participate in interviews with local and international media, and speak at international conferences.
The Fellowship is recruiting a total of 25 Fellows for 2020. They are looking for 15 Fellows who are development experts in fields such as food security, global health, development economics, health and human rights, mental health, and climate change. They are also looking for 10 Fellows who are experts working on the frontlines of sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Fields
- Global Health
- Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
- Human Rights
- Food Security and Nutrition
- Environment/Climate Change
- Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
- Entrepreneurship
- Tech
- Governance
- Education
- Other
Benefits
All expenses related to the fellowship are paid, including certain media-related travel costs.
Eligibility Criteria
- Candidates from any developing country are eligible to apply.
- The Fellowship is open by nomination only.
- Candidates for the Fellowship are expected to have both a record of significant professional achievement and a desire to share their perspectives on global development with a broader international audience.
The Process
1. Ask someone to nominate you. This person could be a mentor, supervisor or professor. We ask that this person know you and your work well.
2. The Aspen Institute will review your nomination. If you pass through the first round, they will be in touch with you directly, asking you to submit an application. This application involves two essays and a series of questions.
3. Once the New Voices team has reviewed applications, they will ask a small group of finalists to participate in an interview via Skype or phone. From this group, they will choose the final class of Fellows.
More about the Fellowship
The New Voices Fellowship at the Aspen Institute is a groundbreaking initiative designed to bring more expert voices from the developing world into the global development discussion.
The Fellowship offers development experts from Africa and other parts of the developing world a year-long program of media support, training, research and writing under the guidance of experienced mentors and trainers.
The program will help Fellows to sharpen their messages, elevate their stories, focus their media targets, and communicate their insights across a variety of media platforms – illuminating crucial grassroots perspectives for a broad worldwide audience.
Fellows can be drawn from a variety of development disciplines, ranging from public health and education to poverty alleviation, agriculture, sanitation and community activism. Ideal candidates are experts in their fields who have a deep understanding of broad development challenges and a passion for communicating their views.
Previous (2019) Fellowship Program
The 2019 New Voices Fellows come from Ethiopia, Egypt, Guatemala, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Rwanda, Niger, Kenya, Indonesia, India, Ghana, Guyana, South Africa, Nigeria, India, Liberia and Sierra Leone. They will undertake a program of intensive media training and mentorship to reach a broader global audience through both traditional and new media, as well as speaking engagements.
This year’s fellows include:
- A surgeon from Kenya who lost four siblings to HIV and later helped to pioneer male circumcision as a strategy to fight the AIDS epidemic
- A South African woman engineer who now leads efforts to develop engineering and STEM talent in girls across several African countries
- A Nigerian former oil company executive who left the corporate world to become a “Farmer in a Suit” and promote agriculture as a career choice for young people
- An Indonesian entomologist who has developed new ways to fight insect pests without harming the environment
The SHRH Fellows include:
- A former sex worker in Uganda who founded an organization that connects sex workers to services such as job training and reproductive healthcare
- A Guatemalan doctor and former ballerina who fights for access to contraception and family planning education to help vulnerable girls lead healthier, happier lives
- A demographer from Niger who uses statistics to show how the population in one of Africa’s poorest countries will quadruple by 2050 unless stronger family planning programs are implemented
During the program’s first six years, New Voices Fellows were featured over 5,500 times in media outlets and delivered numerous TED and TEDx talks. Under a training partnership with The Moth, a non-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling, New Voices Fellows have told their stories to live US audiences and through radio and podcast syndication.
Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Open Societies Foundation, the New Voices Fellowship was established in 2013 to bring the essential perspectives of development experts from Africa and other parts of the developing world into the global development conversation.
The new, three-year project to spotlight experts involved with sexual and reproductive health and rights has been supported by an anonymous donor. Application to the Fellowship is by nomination only, and nominations will open in August 2019 for the next class.
About the Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also maintains offices in New York City and has an international network of partners.
The Aspen Institute has earned a reputation for gathering diverse, nonpartisan thought leaders, creatives, scholars and members of the public to address some of the world’s most complex problems. But the goal of these convenings is to have an impact beyond the conference room. They are designed to provoke, further and improve actions taken in the real world.
Mission
Ideas
Spark intellectual inquiry and exchange, connecting new concepts to timeless values
Leadership
Create a diverse worldwide community of leaders committed to the greater good
Action
Provide a nonpartisan forum for reaching solutions on vital public policy issues
Work
Policy Programs
Nonpartisan initiatives that drive dialogue and action on today’s challenges
Leadership Initiatives
Multi-year programs where leaders explore their core values to drive action in their communities and businesses
Conference & Events
Opportunities for the public to engage with experts and each other
Youth and Engagement Programs
Initiatives that develop values-driven young leaders and activate the next generation of citizens
Seminars
Small gatherings where experts and leaders reflect, connect, and share ideas
International Partnerships
A network of partners that address global challenges and develop values-based leaders
Media Resources
Digital content and publications that promote innovative thinking and solutions
For more information and to submit nominations, visit http://newvoicesfellows.aspeninstitute.org/Nominations