Dalai Lama Fellows, a unique global program personally authorized by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, envisions and works towards a world that tends to the good of the whole as well as of the individual. We do this by guiding a global network of young social entrepreneurs to deepen their effectiveness by integrating secular ethics, contemplative values, and compassion.

We award highly-selective, year-long Fellowship grants of up to $10,000 (varies from country to country) to exceptional undergraduate and graduate students who want to design and launch ambitious "compassion-in-action" projects in one or more of four areas:

 

a) working across differences;

b) diminishing violence;

c) alleviating poverty; and,

d) protecting the environment. 

 

To be eligible to apply, a candidate must be:

• Enrolled as a full-time undergraduate student at McGill during Fellowship year*  
• Able to attend the Ethical Leadership Assembly** (ELA) from June 30 - July 7, 2013 and again in June 2014
• Available to refine project plan and plan travel logistics with Dalai Lama Fellows Program Directors between selection date and the ELA
• Able to dedicate sufficient time during the school year for the proposed project, three monthly 90 minute calls organized by program staff, and monthly reflective prompts from our curriculum

 

Top candidates possess:

• Engagement with the Dalai Lama’s focus on ethics as inner self regulation to promote the greater good, collaborative leadership, compassion, and universal values
• Achievement orientation and enthusiasm
• Demonstrated capacity to overcome challenges
• Project management skills
• Commitment to empowerment of the community the projects proposes to work with 
• An existing network of contacts in the community the project proposes to work with
• Commitment to integrate the project into the life of the campus
• Commitment to being an engaged citizen of the Dalai Lama Fellows community 

 Top projects:

• Are mentored by a faculty or community-based member (or have a clear plan for securing mentorship)
• Deepen Fellow’s service orientation, or the ability to give time and non-monetary resources
• Plug into and springboard off existing networks
• Offer new solutions to old problems
• Demonstrate sensible, prudent and creative budgeting
• Demonstrate the ability to engage with the community in a sustained and meaningful way