By: Ifeoma Ikedionwu, Virtual Student Federal Service Intern

There are numerous ways young people have gone outside of the box to engage their communities, such as creating a magazine for Generation Z, founding an international youth civics organization, or being a leader within youth empowerment programs. However, we sometimes don’t know how to turn our passion for changing the world into a reality. Internships, fellowships, and programs are a great place to start. The Millennium Fellowship is one of those opportunities. Every year, the program gives college students a way to team up with their peers for 4 months in the fall to address global inequities affecting their community. The program runs every year with applications due in the spring and the fellowship running for the entire fall semester. Here’s more information about this annual fellowship that will hopefully inspire you.

What is the Millennium Fellowship?

Created by the United Nations, the Millennium Fellowship is a semester-long leadership development program. It allows any undergraduate student leader interested in making a social impact to take action on their campus. There are currently Millennium Fellows in over 20 countries and 80 campuses!

Each campus selects one or more of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals which focus on global issues such as poverty, clean water, hunger, education, justice, climate change, good health, economics, and many more. Being a Millennium Fellow allows you to meet with a team of peers on a regular basis to develop and execute an initiative to address these goals.

4 Benefits of Being a Millennium Fellow:

1. Develop Leadership Skills

As a Millennium Fellow, you and your team tackle a difficult issue and execute your own project that addresses needs in your area. Teams also have opportunities to network, receive feedback and coaching, and reflect. Beyond working with each other, Millennium Fellows may also work with their university’s administration or community leaders to help advance their objectives. The fellowship sparks the “ability to lead and find courage in turning your ideas into action”¹ and “amplifies the voices of people committed to making change”².

2. Pursue Your Passions with Peers

Your Fellowship team is made up of other undergraduates on your own campus who you may have never met before. However, each member has the passion to create sustainable change in the community. Fellows meet and work closely with professionals to join conversations about international prosperity. By being a Millennium fellow, you are joining a cohort of global changemakers. 

3. Make a Difference in Your Community

The world is your oyster with Millennium Fellowship projects. Students have raised money for local food pantries, held workshops on healthy eating, created online platforms for girls in STEM, and many more. The common theme with each project is that they help better support and provide for a given community in a meaningful way.

4. Begin Doing Work in a Future Career of Interest

Because the fellowship focuses on global issues within your community, Millennium Fellows often develop an even stronger interest in global health, international policy, and social justice. If those are career fields you are already interested in, this is a great opportunity to dive deeper into them. Fellowship alumni have gone on to work for the United Nations, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and create their own socially-driven organizations.

How Do I Get Involved?

Every year, the Millennium Fellowship runs from August to December to align with most college’s fall semesters. Primary applications allow individuals to share why they are applying to this program, and typically close at the end of March. Applications for 2021 have closed, but you can plan now to apply next year and recruit other students on your campus with similar interests. If there are at least eight students from your campus who have applied, applicants are eligible to complete the second application due at the end of April to flesh out their action plan and submit a recommendation letter. 

References: 
1. Australian 2020 Millennium Fellows
2. Ugandan 2020 Millennium Fellows