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Yale World Fellows is an organization that seeks to build a network of emerging global leaders and broaden international understanding at Yale University. Yale World Fellows are fully immersed in the University community, and share their expertise in classes and seminars across Yale. While most activities take place on campus in New Haven, the Program sponsors trips to New York City and Washington, DC and an off-site retreat. The Yale World Fellows Program is offered annually from mid-August to mid-December and is sponsored and fully funded by Yale.

Yale World Fellows are early mid-career emerging leaders who have distinguished themselves within their own professions, regions, countries, or at an international level. Fellows uniformly possess the extraordinary qualities of mind and character that strong leadership requires, and have demonstrated themselves to be driving forces for action or effective catalysts of change. World Fellows are selected from a wide range of fields and disciplines including government, business, nongovernmental organizations, religion, the military, media, and the arts.

The Seminar
The center of the Yale World Fellows Program is a 15-week global affairs colloquium taught by Yale faculty. Each class of World Fellows is exposed to both classical philosophical texts and current academic research, with the goal of developing a nuanced perspective.

Skill Building
As Fellows are selected at a critical point in their careers, the program provides Fellows with a structured space for self-assessment, reflection, and peer feedback. Sessions facilitated by Yale School of Management faculty expose Fellows to negotiation, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Fellows also receive individualized coaching in public speaking and media training, building confidence and enhancing personal presence.

Leadership Conversations
In an off-the-record conversation series, Fellows hear the personal side of professional trajectories and have the opportunity to ask hard questions of global practitioners. Leaders the program has hosted include former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan; former heads of state Ernesto Zedillo and Tony Blair; U.S. Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsberg; and award-winning writers David Brooks and Elizabeth Alexander.

Self-Directed Study
Fellows can audit almost any course offered at Yale University with the opportunity to develop individual or collaborative research projects. They also spend time with Yale faculty and students, giving talks and lectures and engaging in informal dialogue and debate.

Founding
On the occasion of Yale's tercentenary, in 2001, University President Richard C. Levin launched a number of internationalization initiatives. Yale World Fellows was among these, and was launched in 2002. The Yale World Fellows network now comprises 241 World Fellows representing 81 countries. The Fellows work across national boundaries and disciplines: in technology, art, finance, politics, social entrepreneurship, journalism, advocacy and other sectors.

Activities
The program sponsors a variety of events every year, including global conferences, multimedia exhibitions, and panel discussions on current events. World Fellows often initiate their own collaborative projects while at Yale, such as the Seven Billionth Person Project, an international multimedia effort that invites people to share through writings and art what they would say to the world’s seven billionth baby, expected to be born sometime in 2011. In 2011, the Yale World Fellows hosted Yale University's first TEDx event TEDx Yale World Fellows. The Return to Yale Forum is held every other year, and brings together current and former World Fellows to meet and engage in debates about contemporary issues. The most recent Forum was held in October 2013 and included discussions on social entrepreneurship, corporate thinking, activism, art and culture and peace.

The World Fellows Program also sponsors an annual Global Leadership Series conference. At these conferences held in cities around the world, World Fellows alumni, leaders in the region, prospective World Fellows nominees, and others debate selected international topics. Past conferences have addressed issues such as the United Nations Global Compact's contribution for addressing corporate social responsibility.

Eligibility and Selection Process
Nominations and applications for the Yale World Fellows Program are solicited from around the world. A Fellowship candidate must be a citizen of and reside in a country other than the United States. Preference may be given to candidates who have not had extensive educational or work experience in the United States, particularly at Yale. Candidates should be in the early mid-career stage, roughly five to fifteen years into their professional lives, with demonstrated work accomplishments, and a clear indication of future contributions and excellence. A reasonable command of English is essential. Fellowship candidates must complete an online application and submit at least three confidential letters of recommendation. Regional panels review semifinalist candidates, and a final selection committee aims to assemble a Fellowship group that is diverse, geographically balanced, and representative of a wide range of professions, talents, and perspectives

Notable members

 * Alexey Navalny a Moscow-based lawyer and a crusader against corruption, was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World for his role in instigating opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
 * Tim Jarvis is leading a recreation of the famous explorer Ernest Shackleton's 1916 Antarctic voyage, using only equipment and food available at the time of the original expedition.
 * Maria Corina Machado is a Venezuelan Congresswoman who ran in the presidential primaries to challenge Venezuela's then President Hugo Chavez in the 2012 election.
 * Gidon Bromberg was named one of Time Magazine's Environmental Heroes of the Year in 2008, for his work on using environmental activism to foster peace processes in the Middle East.
 * Aboubakr Jamaï, a journalist from Morocco, was featured in the New Yorker for his confrontational weekly newspaper, Le Journal Hebdomadaire.
 * Ma Jun won the 2012 Goldman Environmental Prize for combining use of technology and environmental activism to pressure Chinese manufacturers to reduce their environmental footprint and clean up global supply chains.
 * Norbert Mao is the leader and Presidential Candidate of the Democratic Party of Uganda. He came in third place in the February 2011 Presidential elections, ceding to the incumbent President Yoweri Museveni.
 * Mohamed Elfayoumy, a diplomat from Egypt. He served as the Consul of Egypt in Damascus from 2010-2012. He played a vital role in evacuating thousands of Egyptian nationals from Syria during the civil war. He was later appointed as a representative of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Syrian Opposition until August 2013.