MOUNTAINTOP STANDARD FELLOWSHIP

Deadline:  8 Nov 2024

The standard Mountaintop Fellowship is a paid, one-year, full-time fellowship for the most promising local leaders to stay in or return to their home communities and contribute to systems change in lower-income places around the world. Mountaintop’s Fellows receive a $3,600 grant, fully paid two week leadership institute hosted at Harvard University's Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics, 1:1 mentorship, additional grant opportunities, and a lifelong community of inspiring peers to accelerate their leadership journeys and prepare them for large-scale impact to transform their communities and countries.

In the application, candidates propose a full-time project to address the challenge of their choice in their home community, and describe how the fellowship will help them stay rooted in their community.

This could be anything from leading a social enterprise, advocating for policy changes, or working for a high-impact government agency, NGO, or social venture. The project could be to continue developing an existing initiative such as an NGO or social venture, or starting something new. Mountaintop will select candidates serving a lower-income community in any country outside of the United States. Fellowships will not go to support individuals to run for political office or conduct research.

Note that candidates are still eligible even if they complete the fellowship while holding a separate full-time job if the fellowship would help them to refocus their work on an independent, high-impact project within that job. For example, a Fellow could be working at a health ministry in their home country, and the fellowship could support them to spend their time on a new public health community engagement initiative that they are leading as part of that job. Candidates applying under this scenario will be asked to show written proof of approval of their project proposal from their current supervisor if invited to a Finalist interview.

Benefits

- $3,600 grant. Paid in 12 $300 installments.

- The two week Leadership Institute. Hosted at Harvard University's Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics. Mountaintop covers all costs, including flights, lodging, meals, ground transportation, and visa fees. The Leadership Institute is intended to prepare rising leaders to deepen and scale their work through small group activities, custom coaching sessions, excursions to high-impact organizations, and skill-building workshops. Last year's Leadership Institute brought together 33 global experts across the domains of academia, social entrepreneurship, and activism, including Irini Albanti, the Executive Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Arturo Condo, the President of EARTH University in Costa Rica, Shady ElGhazaly Harb, a leader of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, and five adaptive leadership coaches from the Harvard Kennedy School. The 2024 Leadership Institute had a 9.2/10 satisfaction rate and 77% believed the Leadership Institute had a "transformative impact" on their leadership trajectory (23% said it had a "significant impact"). This year, the Leadership Institute will start with a two day community building retreat in New Hampshire followed by ten days of structured training at Harvard.

- Mentorship. Includes 1:1 advising from an expert in your field each month, and access to Mentorship Office Hours, which allows you to schedule regular advising sessions with a slate of world renowned experts from across many domains of social impact.

- Catalyst Fund. The opportunity to apply for the Catalyst Fund, which funds up to $2,500 for Mountaintop Fellows to implement a project in their community.

- Other Benefits. Other benefits include a customized leadership coaching from Mountaintop staff and on-call support, two virtual multi-day leadership development retreats, a monthly speaker series, and a virtual community of practice of alumni and shortlisted applicants from past fellowship cycles.

- Lifelong community. Our Fellows have shared that the deep friendships they build is the most valuable part of the experience, as it provides a strong professional network, supports mental resilience, and creates a safe space to share joys and sorrows.

Eligibility

- Committed to serving their home country, community, or state/province throughout their career.
- Committed to attending a two-week, full-time, in-person training at Harvard’s campus in Cambridge, USA, July 12-23, 2025 (Mountaintop covers all costs, including flights, lodging, meals, ground transportation, and visa fees).
- Committed to dedicating 40 hours per week to the fellowship project.
- Committed to 5 additional hours per week spent on virtual activities, including mentorship sessions, monthly speaker sessions, and peer troubleshooting meetings. 

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