22 October 2015
From the 14th to the 21st September 2015, Zhejiang University, a Melton Foundation Partner Campus in Hangzhou, China served as host to five Ashesi students and a faculty member as they participated in the flagship Melton Foundation’s Global Citizenship Conference (GCC).
Each year, the Melton Foundation and one of its partner universities host a seven-to-ten day series of activities focused on Global Citizenship. This conference convenes about 100 delegates, made up of Melton Fellows (current students and alumni from the various campuses), Global Citizenship advocates and experts. The participation of Ashesi students in this year’s conference follows Ashesi’s joining the Melton Foundation in 2014 as the only African partner university in the Melton Foundation. Ashesi was represented by its Melton fellows; Sabelo Dube (Zimbabwe), Nana Kwame Oteng Darkwah (Ghana), Tito Magero Ochieng (Kenya), Jean Vladimir Mayemene Fomene (Cameroon) and Beryl Akuffo-Kwapong (Ghana), and Dr. Esi Ansah from the faculty.
The GCC included workshops aimed at understanding and taking action on global issues, the building of tangible skills relevant to global citizens, field trips, and the highlight Springboard Sessions. Through all these, participants explored contemporary global issues, sharing thoughts and ideas from their different cultural viewpoints in enriched discussions. The skills-building workshops covered areas including Mentoring and Facilitation, Impact Measurement, and Project Management. Nonetheless, all was not hard and fast, as fellows had the opportunity to explore the tourist city of Hangzhou through exciting field trips as part of an experience that climaxed with the famous Springboard Session – a GCC event which offers the stage to the inspiring work of leading global citizens.
Speaking of their participation in the GCC and what it means for their fellowship, lead fellow, Tito Magero mentions: “the Melton Foundation grants us an opportunity to learn transferable best practice from the different cultures represented. With these insights and broader privileges of fellowship at our disposal, we [Ashesi Melton Fellows] look forward to rolling out series of on-campus projects with the aim of promoting global citizenship in our part of the world”.
In addition, the trip to the GCC offered fellows the opportunity to advance their personal learning and self-discovery, says Melton Fellow Nana Kwame Oteng Darkwah. For Melton Fellow Sabelo Dube, this meant realizing a surprising fluidity in cross-cultural interactions that to him was the result of so rich a diversity that there was no institutionalized norm. For Beryl Akuffo-Kwapong, this new experience described by Sabelo Dube triggered a re-orientation without which she couldn’t have fully engaged her new environment, but with which she had a successful, immersive experience.
Also, impressed by the success of the homegrown Chinese development strategy, Melton Fellow Vladimir Fomene iterates the need for Africans to define a development strategy that responds to the peculiar African condition, and peculiar African needs.
We at Ashesi are excited about the partnership with the Melton Foundation and the prospects, which will give the fellows an opportunity to explore the world and foster deep collaborations through training in Germany (2016), and participation in future GCCs, (Chile, in 2016). Now that our pioneer Melton Fellows, through their participation in the GCC, has finally put ‘global’ into their global citizenship, we look forward to celebrating the impact of the work they’ll be doing here on campus, and beyond, as they grow in their journey as global citizens.
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