The Donella Meadows Leadership Fellows Network, a program at the Sustainability Institute, Vermont, consists of 74 sustainability practitioners and professionals from 16 countries, plus key partners who share the Institute's and the Fellows’ aspirations. Our aim is to increase the ongoing impact that our Fellows make, both collectively and individually, to global sustainability.

We develop think/do tanks and projects across sectors and support social networking to increase connectivity and collaboration among Fellows, Sustainability Institute colleagues, and respective partners, donors, and networks. A central focus remains on nurturing reflective thinking, the discipline of visioning, systems thinking, and engaging across difference.

Our vision is to have Fellows and key SI partners be strategic thought leaders, instigators, and actors collaborating at their highest capacity on significant sustainability measures in the US and in the countries where Fellows work. Special areas of interest include climate change, biodiversity, food systems, poverty, and gender equity.

In September 2009, we held our annual Fellows Network Seminar at the Trinity Conference Center in West Cornwall, Connecticut.  Fellows came from 7 countries, working in government, civil society, business, and philanthropy.  In this powerful and deeply moving workshop, Fellows shared successes and struggles from their personal and professional lives, and developed visions for the future.  In addition to Sustainability Institute staff, a guest speaker, artist, writer, photographer, videographer, and musician also led sessions and documented the workshop.  The workshop included sessions on climate change, systems thinking, coaching, and social network mapping.

Click here to read the full report, with photos and quotes from Fellows.

-- We will be accepting applications for the fifth cohort of Fellows in Spring 2010. Join our e-mail listerv to keep abreast of announcements and news. --

Edie Farwell is Director of the Donella Meadows Leadership Fellows Network.

Share