Since its inception in 2019, the WISE Emerging Leaders program has convened over 80 young leaders in education. This fellowship was designed to support the next generation of leaders in education, embarking on a learning journey that cultivates the mindsets, skills, and techniques necessary to thrive, nurture communities, and transform education systems. At its core, WISE recognizes the importance of creating stimulating and nourishing spaces for education leaders to come together, connect meaningfully and collaborate for collective impact.
Building upon this, WISE is taking the key strengths of their community-focused programs and incorporating this as an exclusive capacity-building opportunity for all WISE Prize finalist teams. In offering a hybrid program consisting of in-person residential sessions and access to exclusive coaches, this new offering for education innovators will directly connect teams to their solution development as part of the 2024-2025 WISE Prize for Education.
Through an established partnership with The Weaving Lab and Recipes for Wellbeing, WEL has supported young emerging leaders across over 70 organizations, and 33 countries.
“The WISE Emerging Leaders program has been an incredible journey of personal and professional growth for me. Not only have I gained valuable insights and tools to multiply the impact of my work, but I have also learnt perseverance from the life experiences of powerful changemakers, who are now my close friends, from 14 countries. What sets this program apart is the safe space it offers to share our impact stories, both personal and professional, our values, and even our vulnerabilities. The experience has made me value diversity, celebrate different perspectives and align with people to create a bigger lasting impact in this world.”
Rajat Bagga, Senior Manager at Pratham Education Foundation, India and German Chancellor Fellow at Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, Germany (2022 fellow)
“The WISE fellowship is so unique in that it brings such a diverse group of individuals to learn from each other professionally and just as equally, personally.
Time has never flown by so fast as it did in every webinar and residential session I spent with my WISE fellows. I learnt more about the world, about education, about learning and about the goodness of humanity. It was and still is – through every chat, message, catch up sessions – a truly life transforming and forward thinking experience!”
Christina Bwana, Chief Operations Officer and General Manager, Ubongo (2020 fellow)
2019 WISE Emerging Leaders
The 2019 Emerging Leaders cohort consists of 17 outstanding fellows from 13 countries, rigorously selected from a diverse pool of nominations received from the WISE community. The selected cohort comprises of fellows from organizations such as Camfed, Minerva Project, and HundrEd among others who have strongly demonstrated their commitment to the field of education.
The fellows embarked on a global education journey, which have included a series of expert-led webinars and master classes, and in person residential sessions in Germany and Doha and a project that they have developed and implemented with support from their organizations and WISE.
The 2020 WISE Emerging Leaders cohort consists of nineteen young men and women from 17 countries, representing diverse backgrounds and disciplines. Selected fellows include young professionals from organizations from the WISE community and social innovators actively engaged in delivering or designing education initiatives within their organization or networks.
Selected fellows, aged 28-33, will participate in a series of collaborative and interactive modules on topics ranging from ethical leadership to social innovation delivered by WISE and Weaving Lab to increase the impact of their work and collaborate on pressing challenges. Through the fellowship, WISE aims to support and elevate the work of promising initiatives in education by developing young talent within such organizations.
The 2021 WISE Emerging Leaders cohort consists of 23 women and men from 12 countries, representing diverse backgrounds and disciplines. Selected fellows include young professionals from organizations from the WISE community and social innovators actively engaged in delivering or designing education initiatives within their organization or networks.
Selected fellows, aged 24-33, will participate in a series of collaborative and interactive modules on topics ranging from ethical leadership to social innovation delivered by WISE and Recipes for Wellbeing to increase the impact of their work and collaborate on pressing challenges.
The 2022 WISE Emerging Leaders cohort consists of 14 women and men from 14 countries, representing diverse backgrounds and disciplines. Selected fellows include young professionals from organizations from the WISE community and social innovators actively engaged in delivering or designing education initiatives within their organization or networks.
The 2023 WISE Emerging Leaders cohort consists of 15 women and men from 12 different countries, representing diverse backgrounds and disciplines. Selected fellows include young professionals from organizations from the wider WISE community and social innovators actively engaged in delivering or designing education initiatives within their organization or networks. The WEL community is now made up of over 70 young leaders in education, with the program in its fifth consecutive year.
