Mountaintop is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit offering a paid, one-year, full-time fellowship for exceptional emerging leaders to stay in or return to their home communities and contribute to systems change in lower-income places around the world. Mountaintop matches Fellows with locally led NGOs, social ventures, and government agencies to lead high-impact projects, strengthens the capacity of Fellow hosts, and amplifies Fellows’ potential through mentorship, grants, a lifelong community of inspiring peers, and a two-week leadership institute hosted at Harvard University’s Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics. Mountaintop Fellowship offers paid opportunities for both “host-led fellowships” (placements serving with a predetermined NGO, social venture, or government agency) and “applicant-led fellowships” (independent projects proposed by the applicant anywhere outside the United States).

How It Works

Placements

Mountaintop provides host-led fellowships and applicant-led fellowships. For:

1) host-led fellowships, Mountaintop partners with high-impact government agencies, NGOs, and social ventures in underserved communities in lower-income countries to address a critical community need. Hosts determine a stipend for a one-year full-time position equal to the annual salary of comparable employees on their team.

2) applicant-led fellowships, Fellows apply for a scholarship to lead a high-impact independent project anywhere in the world outside the United States.

Recruitment and Selection

Mountaintop coordinates with hosts, universities, and leadership networks to recruit outstanding emerging professionals to serve in fellowships in their home communities and countries. Mountaintop selects Fellows who are committed to permanently staying in their home communities over the course of their careers and who have a demonstrated track record in public service and/or entrepreneurship. There are no age restrictions. For host-led fellowships, hosts participate in Finalist interviews and approve all selections.

For those who struggle with English, candidates can complete the application in their native language and selected Fellows are given a complimentary online English course before beginning the Leadership Institute. Those who do not have access to cheap, reliable Internet can download the application and submit responses (written or typed) via email at info@mountaintopfellows.org.

Training

In July before their placements, Fellows attend a two-week Leadership Institute at Harvard’s Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics in Cambridge, USA. The Leadership Institute trains Fellows on Mountaintop’s transformational leadership curriculum, which includes: moral leadership, or living by higher values while inspiring others to do the same; systems leadership, or impacting culture, ecosystems, policies, and other fundamental levers to contribute to sustainable change; public leadership, or working with governments as an elected official, civil servant, or advocate to strengthen democratic institutions and make large-scale impact; and collective leadership, or cultivating the capacities and leadership skills of fellow community members. Fellows are also given training to complete an optional “listening tour” of their communities to map challenges and opportunities facing a diversity of local stakeholders to inform their local leadership.

The Institute will be facilitated by world class partners from academia, public service, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and ministry who will represent the diversity of the globe in geography, culture, ethnicity, and ideology. Current partners include the Aspen Institute Leadership Index, Harvard’s Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics, and faculty at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School. In addition, selected Fellows will have the opportunity to provide input into what they would like to emphasize during the Institute, helping shape the training and customizing it for their needs.