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Once a Global Fellow, always a Global Fellow. Members of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) Global Fellows Network (GFN) carry this truth with them throughout their lives, reflected in how they center community in their work and in the enduring strength of the network that spans continents and languages.
Recently, five Global Fellows Network leaders from Southern Africa attended the 27th International Leadership Association (ILA) Global Conference in Prague, Czech Republic. There, the fellows seized the opportunity to engage with other global leaders, exchange ideas and strengthen their leadership skills to advance change in their communities.
They also took stock of how being a fellow has transformed their lives.
Investing in community
Global Fellow Crispin Mawadza of Zimbabwe recalls how, 20 years ago, he heard the call to invest in rural communities at a WKKF retreat. Today, he is doing just that through the two businesses he has started, especially The Humphrey Cottages, a tourism enterprise he launched almost six years ago in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe.
By drawing on local talent and resources, Mawadza is building an economic ecosystem that offers people the opportunity to own homes and continue their training and education. One of his employees, for instance, dropped out of school in fourth grade but is now one of his most dedicated and valued workers helping to manage the properties. “We want to help them help themselves,” Mawadza says.
Faith Chawinga, a fellow from Malawi, began her community work with a focus on creating opportunities for young people, especially girls, through education. That continues to be her passion, despite her demanding job as a contract analyst for the Reserve Bank of Malawi.
“Education of our youth is a powerful pathway for reducing poverty and fostering sustainable development in my country,” Chawinga says. “By investing in youth today, we are helping to build a stronger and more inclusive economy for the future.”
Chawinga says girls need focused attention because of the social pressures for them to drop out of school and marry young, which become barriers to achieving their full potential. She founded Girls Can to equip young women to make informed decisions and pursue their education so that they can contribute both to their families and their communities.
Bongiwe Mayiwase Dlamini, a Global Fellow from Eswatini, leads the Ingcebo Yetfu Foundation, which empowers women and youth through mushroom farming, early childhood development centers and savings groups to pool community resources.
Innovation and imagination fuel her foundation’s success. For instance, the foundation repurposed an abandoned building into a greenhouse where young people can earn income and build entrepreneurial skills by growing and selling mushrooms. Partnering with government institutions, international organizations and agricultural groups has also been critical to sustaining Ingcebo Yetfu’s work.
Collective leadership in action
At the ILA conference, Dlamini says she learned about the importance of “leading together” — shifting focus from individual authority to collective authority. She also learned about creative problem-solving, the role of mentorship in helping women develop as leaders and the need to break down the barriers that keep women from advancing, including stereotypes around societal expectations of married women — like dropping out of the workforce and taking on domestic or caregiving roles.
“The workshops gave me the courage to stand up for what I want to do in my community,” Dlamini says, adding that, too often, “people in authority use their positions to filter out new ideas” — especially those from women.
Mawadza says that he too learned important leadership lessons at the ILA conference. For example, he was impressed by the workshop on shifting from “system thinking to quantum thinking” by embracing uncertainty and interconnectedness and learning to see multiple and even contradictory possibilities at the same time.
Chawinga found exchanging ideas and experiences with other global leaders at the ILA conference was particularly enriching. “It gave me practical insights and motivation to strengthen my own work at home,” she says, in addition to creating a sense of unity and support.
In preparation for the ILA conference, Chawinga, Mawadza, Dlamini and other fellows participated in a Global Fellow-led professional coaching program provided by the CO-ACT (Connect, Collaborate and Act) Leadership Pilot Program. Chawinga says the training was a real eye-opener for her.
“It helped me realize my inside world,” she says. “Being a leader, you have to know who you are.” Often, she says, she would approach her work by doing what she believed was right but forgetting herself in the process. Now, she says, she is more self-aware.
A powerful global movement
Mawadza and Chawinga say that being Global Fellows has taught them important life lessons.
“One of the highlights of being a fellow is the power to give back,” Mawazda notes. “The fellowship taught me not to be selfish — to share my skills and knowledge as far and as widely and as much as I can.”
Says Chawinga: “For me, being a Kellogg fellow means moving beyond being a solo visionary to working with others to unleash the power of collective action. I am a change agent. I am a connector. I am part of a legacy of leaders committed to creating change for children and families in our communities.”
About the Global Fellows Network
GFN serves as a platform for connection, collaboration and collective action across generations, sectors and regions of the world. It creates opportunities for continuous learning, leadership development, career growth and meaningful global exchange, while fostering relationships that extend beyond individual fellowship experiences. Through these connections, the network strengthens a global.
Learn more about the Global Fellows Network.
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