The UNAOC Fellowship Program aims at fostering intercultural exchange and interfaith understanding by engaging with emerging leaders and young professionals from Europe, North-America (EUNA), the Middle East and North-Africa (MENA). Framed around two-week exchange trips between EUNA and MENA countries, the Program sends participants from each geographic area to their counterparts’ region.
The Fellowship provides participants with a first hand exposure to diversity and with the opportunity to experience cultural immersion while interacting with a wide range of local actors and partners. In every country visited, participants are being provided with crucial comprehension tools to help them understand the plurality and the complexity of their surroundings, and to get an extensive grasp of their host country’s culture, politics, society, religion, media and more. The main objective of the Program is to involve Fellows into intercultural cooperation and encourage them to engage in broader and deeper discussions on cultural sensitivity. By exposing participants to new ideas and perspectives, and by immersing them into culturally diverse and unfamiliar environments, the Fellowship Program aims at challenging perceptions and deconstructing stereotypes. Building on that, participants become then better equipped to position themselves as informed stakeholders and to develop cross-cultural partnerships while bridging divides between peoples from different faiths and cultures.
In 2015, besides addressing issues related to intercultural dialogue, activities and discussions of the Fellowship Program were built around a sub-theme: “Migration and Integration” for MENA participants traveling to EUNA countries, and “Youth Development” for their EUNA counterparts traveling to the MENA region. Both themes were chosen according to UNAOC objectives and plan of action with the goal to ensure a concrete impact on the ground and to encourage intercultural collaboration between Fellows and actors met during their trip. It also framed the selection process, and both cohorts were composed by young professionals and experts deeply involved in either Youth or Migration. Both topics were, and remain, global problematic at the center of current events: in EUNA countries, Migration issues have become a focus of attention in media and political debates; in the MENA region, the field of Youth Development is becoming more relevant everyday.
In 2015 – and for the first time since the launch of the Fellowship Program in 2010 – the two cohorts have had the opportunity to meet and interact with one another for four days in Sarajevo. The experience was unanimously described by the Fellows as extremely beneficial.
Participants are selected for their potential in shaping opinion and taking strong initiatives within their community. In their applications, candidates have to demonstrate a strong interest – backed by concrete ideas – to engage with peers and partners from the countries they are going to visit, and propose positive and innovative models of intercultural cooperation and networking.
Candidates also have to demonstrate a strong interest in learning from and engaging with the cultural diversity of the societies they are going to discover. They have to show a level of professional accomplishment and personal involvement in intercultural dialogue and in the theme chosen by UNAOC, through governmental position, politics, civil society, media, community/faith based associations and initiatives, academia, think-tanks, arts, and any other fields relevant to the objectives of the Fellowship Program.
Applicants have to meet two eligibility criteria in order to apply. They have to be nationals of EUNA or MENA countries and be between 25 and 38 years old. While selecting Fellows, the jury makes sure that each cohort is gender balanced, region balanced – with a ratio of participant per country of origin – and professionally balanced.
The Call for Applications is usually advertised on UNAOC website and social media accounts.
Since its creation in 2010, 14 cohorts have traveled with the Fellowship Program across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and the U.S.
Today, a total of 160 emerging leaders and young experts have joined the Fellowship Alumni network after completion of the Program. They come from 39 different countries: Algeria, Armenia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, U.K., Ukraine, U.S.A., and Yemen.
From grassroots organizations to official institutions, UNAOC Fellowship Alumni are professionally involved across the world in a wide spectrum of activities such as: arts, civil society, conflict-resolution, counter-terrorism, culture, education, global-health, governance, human rights, international law, migration, media, new technologies, peace building, sustainable development, sports, women empowerment, youth empowerment, and more. The network is gender balanced, with 81 female participants (40 from MENA and 41 from EUNA) and 79 male participants (38 from MENA and 41 from EUNA).
Spread over the five continents, UNAOC Fellowship Alumni are working together, both as individuals and as a network, on using their resources and expertise to develop cross-cultural collaborations in order to take part in the global effort to fight radicalization and xenophobia, and help promote a narrative of tolerance and inclusion.
