Fellowships

The Council of Women World Leaders (CWWL) partners with several graduate schools at Columbia University with its highly acclaimed Student Fellowship Program. The program offers graduate students the unique opportunity to work directly with women leaders of stature and influence, and to learn first-hand, the substance of gender issues addressed in the work. To this date, the Council has administered this successful and unique program for over 20 years, placing over hundreds of graduate students in the offices of Council members, ministers, and international organizations around the world. The Fellowship program is under the leadership of Patricia Deyton, Senior Advisor for CWWL.

During the 2024 period, five graduate students were placed in Fellowships over the summer months. Fellowships were hosted by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership in London, which is chaired by H.E. Julia Gillard, at the Club of Madrid in Spain, at The Yellow House in Copenhagen, a women-led global public health consulting group working closely with GAVI, UNICEF, and the WHO, at the Offices of the former President of Malta, of H.E. Marie-Louise Colerio Preca, and at the Reykjavik Global Forum in Reykjavik,, Iceland.

The Council welcomes inquiries from other universities about participation in the Fellowship Program. For any universities interested, please contact us via the form below or email us at council@unfoundation.org  to inquire about the requirements for participation. 

Current & Previous Placement Sites

    • European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark

    • Ministry of the Environment, Quito, Ecuador

    • Ministry of the Environment, Panama City, Panama

    • Ministry of the Environment, Reykjavík, Iceland

    • United Nations Development Programme, New York, NY

    • USA United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya

    • Office of the Swiss Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy, and Communications, Bern, Switzerland

    • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Geneva, Switzerland​

    • The Office of the Former President of Malta, H.E. Marie-Louise Colerio Preca, Malta

    • The Reykjavik Global Forum, Reykjavik, Iceland

    • The F.W. de Klerk Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa

    • The Club de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    • Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED), Cambridge, UK and Toronto, Canada - Her Excellency Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia

    • Council of Women World Leaders (CWWL), Washington, DC

    • The World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland

    • The Angie Brooks International Center, Monrovia, Liberia

    • United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), New York, NY

    • NY Ministry of Human Services & Social Security, Georgetown, Guyana

    • UN Women, New York, NY

    • Stonebridge Group, Washington, DC

    • Office of the Federal Ministry for Family, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth, Berlin, Germany

    • Global Institute for Women's Leadership, London, UK - Her Excellency Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia

    • Federal Ministry of Health, Berlin, Germany

    • World Health Organization, Department of Public Health and Environment Gender Focal Point, Geneva, Switzerland

    • Pan-American Health Organization, Gender Equity Division, External Relations, Washington, DC

    • Aspen Global Health and Development, Washington, DC

    • World Health Organization, Department of Reproductive Health and Research, Geneva, Switzerland

    • Ministry of Health, Tarawa, Kiribati

    • Ministry of Health, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

    • Ministry of Health and Prevention, Dakar, Senegal

    • Ministry of Health, Apia, Samoa

    • Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Monrovia, Liberia

    • Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health, Washington DC

    • United Nations Office of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, New York, NY

    • National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    • Pan-American Health Organization, Washington, DC

    • World Economic Forum, New York, NY

    • Aspen Global Health Initiative, Washington, DC

    • Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves at the UN Foundation, Washington, DC

    • The Yellow House, Copenhagen, Denmark 

Interested in a fellowship?

Fill out the form here and we’ll be in touch!

  • "Overall, this fellowship changed my life. It never occurred to me that I would ever have an opportunity like this–ever. I have always been interested in program planning and women’s leadership, which is what I was able to do with RGF."

    Lillian Hohag - Reykjavik Global Forum (2024)

  • "Getting to learn from The Yellow House and Shanelle Hall on how to guide global health entities and improve the culture and collaboration in the global health space was a truly unparalleled experience."

    Hannah George – The Yellow House (2024)

  • "The CWWL Fellowship has significantly impacted my career perspectives and future plans by broadening my understanding of how my social work background can be applied to international development and policy work"

    Vigie Ramos Rios – The Club de Madrid (2024)

  • “The Council for Women World Leaders Fellowship is an incredible experience and a great opportunity for students to learn more about global policy, global politics, engaging with important stakeholders, increasing communication skills, and improving research and community engagement skills.”

    Mahum Naveed – The Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (2024)