News
Yale World Fellows bring global lessons to New Haven classrooms
Akim Daouda stands before a classroom of sixth graders at the Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS), a New Haven public school. He informs the students that he is from Gabon, a small country in Central Africa. He asks if any of them know of it. Nobody raises their hand. Daouda, a former CEO of Gabon’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, shares a few facts about his country: Two million people live there. Forest covers 88% of its land. It is located within the Congo Basin, the Earth’s second-largest rainforest. “Why is it important for students in Connecticut to care about the Congo Basin?” he asks. A student says it’s important…
Read More
From Reform to Resistance: Yale World Fellow Warns of Democratic Backsliding in Georgia
Five years ago, Tamar Chugoshvili was drafting human rights policies and transparency laws as the first vice-speaker of the parliament of the country of Georgia. Now, as a Yale World Fellow at the Jackson School of Global Affairs, she worries her country’s current government might punish her for speaking about its turn away from democracy. “We are going through the classic democratic backsliding path,” Chugoshvili said. “Most of our opposition leaders are in jail. Civil society organizations have been crushed.” Chugoshvili spoke in November 2025 at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies, part of a series of fellows’ breakfasts welcoming visitors and new members of the campus community. “We…
Read More
2009 Yale World Fellow MarĂa Corina Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize
MarĂa Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and a 2009 Yale World Fellow, has won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. “She is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” announced the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which called her “a brave and committed champion of peace.” “The Yale World Fellows program was designed to build a global network of emerging leaders — and time has shown just how extraordinary that community has become,” said James Levinsohn, Charles W. Goodyear Professor of Global Affairs and Dean of the…
Read More
Statement on Nino Ximenes
We are devastated by the passing of Fausto “Nino” Belo Ximenes, a 2024 Yale World Fellow. Nino dedicated his life to justice, human rights, and inclusive development, motivated by his early experience of conflict and post-conflict reconciliation in his native Timor-Leste. As the former country director of Oxfam in the country, he was a tireless champion of communities and a servant-leader who led with compassion. Nino was a beloved World Fellow who inspired us all with his relentless optimism. He loved bowties, tennis, and long walks in the rain. He laughed heartily – and often. We will miss him dearly.
Read More
Director's statement on Alexey Navalny
The following is a statement from Emma Sky, director of the International Leadership Center. The entire Yale World Fellows family is heartbroken by reports that Alexey Navalny, courageous Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption dissident, has died. Alexey was a Yale World Fellow from the class of 2010, who embodied the ideals of the open society and dedicated his life to the pursuit of a better Russia. After being poisoned by the state, he bravely returned to Russia, only to face immediate arrest. He defied a dictatorship, and paid for it with his life. We will remember his unflagging courage and his selfless sacrifice—and also his mischievous grin, his sense of…
Read More
World Fellows Program celebrates 20th anniversary
The Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program celebrated its twentieth anniversary on October 14–16, 2022. Nearly 200 World Fellows, from as far away as Australia, China, Nigeria, and Argentina, returned to New Haven to take part in a weekend of discussions on the state of the world, how to address the challenges of our times, and the strengthening of networks across cohorts, countries, and sectors. Emma Sky, Program Director (and Director of Yale’s International Leadership Center), recalled that the first generation of World Fellows came of age at the end of the Cold War. “It was such a hopeful time. Democracy was on the march…There was optimism that intractable conflicts could…
Read More
Jackson to launch new center on leadership
The Jackson Institute for Global Affairs announced today that it will launch a new International Leadership Center (ILC) and integrate International Security Studies (ISS) in order to further strengthen the Institute’s core research mission. “I am incredibly excited to bring in these two additions to the Jackson Institute family,” said Jim Levinsohn, director of the Jackson Institute. “Both complement Jackson’s mission of educating global leaders and preparing them to make a positive impact in the world.” The ILC will focus on building a global community of practitioners dedicated to furthering geopolitical understanding, preventing conflict, and building better societies. Led by Emma Sky, a Jackson Senior Fellow and Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program,…
Read More
2020 World Fellows wrap up time at Yale
Today marks the official end of the 2020 World Fellows Program. And it ended, as it began, with a Zoom. A Zoom in which the Fellows reflected on the goals they had set themselves at the outset – and what they were able to achieve during the fellowship. And those achievements are impressive: they gave virtual talks on entrepreneurship; biodiversity and conservation; inequality in the Middle East; human rights; domestic violence; refugees; the Rwandan genocide; the peace process in Afghanistan; the United Nations; the challenges facing Hong Kong; sanitation; social development; the impact of the pandemic; and protests and social movements in Africa. They mentored their student liaisons as well…
Read More
Yale World Fellows express solidarity with Alexey Navalny
Yale World Fellows express solidarity with Alexey Navalny, a 2010 Yale World Fellow, and call on the Russian authorities to support an independent investigation into the attack. More than 150 Fellows from around the globe have signed on to the statement to show their solidarity. See the full statement here
Read More
In Closing: Class of 2019 wraps up time at Yale
The 2019 World Fellows concluded their four-month journey at Yale during the Closing Ceremony in Horchow Hall’s GM Room on Dec. 10, 2019. The 15 Fellows were recognized for their contributions to the Yale community, and each received a certificate. The ceremony was attended by friends and family members of the fellows, student liaisons who worked with fellows, Yale faculty and World Fellows & Jackson Institute staff. Pericles Lewis, Yale’s Vice President for Global Strategy and Vice Provost for International Affairs, offered welcoming remarks. He underscored the Fellows’ contributions to the Yale community. “One of Yale’s goals is to be the university that best educates global citizens and global leaders. You are models [for our…
Read More