October 22, 2018
Four Ashesi students, Major Kadonzvo ’20, Kudakwashe Nhanga ’21, Oswald Gyabaah ’20, and Zoe Tagbota ’20 have been admitted as part of 20 fellows to participate in the Melton Global Citizenship program; an initiative that supports the fellows’ projects and provides them with the opportunity to work collaboratively with their colleagues all over the world. Selected from a pool of over 200 applicants, the 2018 fellows are the 3rd group of Ashesi students to have joined the program since Ashesi’s partnership with the Melton Foundation began in 2014.
Following the selection process, the new fellows are currently undergoing a 7-month long training program to acquire skills in Intercultural competencies, design thinking, impact measurement and more. Following this training, they will join their colleagues from Chile, Germany, India, China, and the USA for the first time at a four-day New Fellows Orientation that will be held in Germany in March 2019.
“I look forward to having a network of fellows and coaches to share ideas with as well as access to funding for the projects I’m passionate about,” shared Oswald, a third-year student at Ashesi. “I believe developing solutions this way is more beneficial as we can learn about and tailor ones that have worked in other parts of the world to our communities and vice versa.”
Accepted fellows also get an automatic lifelong access to tools and global engagement opportunities provided by the foundation to address problems in the areas of sustainability, equity, and diversity.
“Through the foundation’s initiatives and support, fellows at Ashesi have had the opportunity to make significant impacts and contribute to solving some of the world’s big challenges both locally and globally,” shared Millicent, who is the Director of Diversity and International Programs at Ashesi. “Pearl Gemegah ’19 for instance through a fully funded Melton opportunity spent last summer in Japan to participate in the HLAB Tokyo 2018 where she taught Design Thinking to High School students for two weeks. Kwabena Tsumasi Ankrah’ 20 also participated as a key panel speaker at the African Youth SDG Summit in Ghana and has initiated two major deep conversation platforms on campus: The Controversy Court and the Ashesi Speaks Debate Series.”
“I applied to the Melton fellowship because even though I want to do something that is socially impactful, I felt I didn’t know how,” shared Zoe who is also in her third year at Ashesi. “However, as a fellow, I believe it will be easy to get guidance that will help me grow so that I can make a global impact wherever you go.”
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