Tag Archives: Events

INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION (ITU) GENDER CHAMPIONS

Application Deadline: 15 November 2026

LOCATION: Switzerland

Join a global network of young women leading digital transformation and digital inclusion.

Are you a young woman using technology to create positive change in your community, country, or region?

The ITU Gender Champions Programme recognizes and supports emerging women leaders who are advancing digital transformation, promoting digital inclusion, and helping shape a more equitable digital future.

ELIGIBILITY:

Implemented by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) with support from Australia and Women’s WorldWide Web (W4), the programme provides opportunities for young women changemakers to amplify their impact, strengthen their leadership, and connect with a global network of experts, policymakers, and innovators.

For its first cohort, the programme will support up to four outstanding young women leaders (18-25 years old), who are driving meaningful change through technology and digital innovation.

Whether you are championing digital skills, expanding connectivity, developing innovative solutions, supporting online safety, advancing AI for social good, or advocating for inclusive digital policies, we encourage you to apply.

Apply now: Applications are now open for the inaugural cohort of ITU Gender Champions.

Complete the application form: Apply here

Terms and Conditions: Before applying, please review the programme documentation. Programme Terms and Conditions

Selection process: Applications will be reviewed by ITU and programme partners against the programme eligibility and selection criteria outlined in the Terms and Conditions.

Due to the anticipated volume of applications, only pre-selected candidates will be contacted. The final cohort will be chosen with a view to ensuring diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and geographical representation.

Stay connected: Follow ITU’s Gender Equality initiatives and the ITU Gender Champions Programme to discover inspiring stories from young women leaders advancing inclusive digital transformation around the world.

BENEFIT:

The ITU Gender Champions will be required to attend the AI for Good Global Summit 2027, taking place 21 – 25 June in Geneva, Switzerland. ITU.

For this reason, the Organizer will provide the Champions with:

A round-trip economy flight ticket to/from the location,
and

Accommodation and per diem subsistence allowance for the duration of the stay based on amounts decided solely by the Organizer.

APPLY

MELTON FOUNDATION GLOBAL SOLVERS ACCELERATION

Application Deadline: 15 November 2026

LOCATION: Germany

Connecting grassroots experiences, empowering social impact practitioners, and unleashing transformative change! The Global Solvers Accelerator is a peer-to-peer learning platform that unites emerging social entrepreneurs from around the world to nurture their leadership capacity, enhance their skills, strengthen their projects, and grow their impact in their local communities and beyond.

ELIGIBILITY:

The Global Solvers Accelerator is for people already working on social, economic, and environmental challenges: grassroots activists, social entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, SDG practitioners, action researchers, community organizers, and more. What matters isn’t a person’s title; it’s that they’re already running, co-leading, or actively shaping a project, and want to deepen both the work and themselves.

With that in mind, well-suited candidates:

Are between 20 and 35 years old;

Are actively involved in an ongoing project, enterprise, research effort, movement, or community initiative tied to the SDGs—and can influence the decisions within it;

Have a track record of real social impact;

Want to connect globally, advance sustainable development, and help transform society;

Are curious, open-minded, and forward-thinking team players who are at ease working with people from different cultures, backgrounds, and identities—online and in person;

Bring a sharing mindset and a readiness to learn, unlearn, and relearn with peers worldwide;

Have sufficient English language skills to take full part in every aspect of the program;

Can commit roughly 4 hours per week to the program, including online engagement, regular meet-ups, and project-based assignments;

Can attend the week-long Global Solvers Co-Lab (3–10 July 2027, in Germany, fully funded);

Are eager to draw on the Melton Foundation’s global network to strengthen impact and practice global citizenship in local communities.

Beyond the checklist, this program is for people who want to move past showcasing their project and dig into the questions beneath it; who let the process challenge and change them as much as they hope to challenge and change the world around them. It isn’t only about what participants have already achieved; it’s about the mindset they bring: participants show up consistently and authentically, ready to question their own work and to give to the learning community as much as they take from it.

Much of the program is cross-cultural and cross-sector, so it asks for openness, curiosity, and a genuine willingness to learn alongside people from diverse backgrounds, identities, and realities.

BENEFIT:

At the Global Solvers Accelerator, everyone contributes—also financially. The program fee is 900 USD, which you will need to pay only if selected for the program. Scholarships covering 20%, 50%, or 80% of the program fee are available to participants with proven need.

If required, you must request a scholarship as part of your application form.

Melton Senior Fellowship:

Senior Fellow Orientation: December 2027 (Tentative)

Participants who successfully complete the program will be formally inducted into the lifelong Melton Senior Fellowship during this final orientation.

APPLY