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Senior Fellows Network

2007 Global Senior Fellows meeting in New York City.

The Senior Fellows Network is comprised of distinguished international leaders in civil society committed to collaborative efforts that address the underlying causes of poverty and inequity.

Launched in 1999, the Senior Fellows program links talented civil society leaders in a worldwide learning, service and action network. The network aims to strengthen the leadership and institutional capacity of these leaders to take on a vanguard role in partnerships that address the systemic causes of poverty and promote social change.

Through the three-year fellowship, Fellows have the opportunity to enhance their skills, knowledge, and experience through peer-to-peer learning, annual and regional meetings, learning journeys, workshops, and contact with eminent persons. They exchange innovative ideas, models, and tools in the development field, which Synergos distributes to a wide audience.

Who Are the Senior Fellows?

Senior Fellows are leaders of some of the world's most successful and innovative development, philanthropic, and social justice organizations. They come to the program with a history of achievement and reputations for originality and effectiveness. The current cadre of 93 Fellows come from 32 countries around the world.

Fellows are practitioners in their mid- to late-career and have a track record of and/or high potential for making a measurable impact on the quality of life in the communities with which they are working. They have developed an expertise in one or more areas of social justice programming, poverty alleviation, community organizing, institutional development, and/or partnership-building. Fellows are innovators and change agents who design models that can be replicated and/or adapted and taken to scale.

Fellows possess and/or aspire to gain a style of leadership that focuses on creating and sustaining effective working relationships among key partners and stakeholders. By "bridging" different perspectives and opinions often found across the breadth of different stakeholders, a common agenda can begin to be developed and shared in order to find solutions to social and economic problems.

Senior Fellows have something to learn and something to teach their peers, and are open to mentoring and being mentored.

Senior Fellows are committed to social change:

• Fellows have experience and/or a commitment to bringing together socially committed representatives from government, business, and/or other non-governmental organizations to solve complex problems which are at its roots due to poverty and inequity.
• Fellows are intimately connected to and guided by the communities they serve.
• Fellows investigate, analyze, and address the systemic reasons behind poverty and inequity.
• Fellows help influence meaningful and sustainable change.

What Does the Senior Fellows Network Do?

Fellows are expected to be active in fellowship activities for three years, while simultaneously performing their ongoing professional responsibilities. After the three years, Fellows are invited to continue participating in program activities as they are able, but otherwise remain an integral part of the Synergos family: once a Fellow, always a Fellow.

The Senior Fellows program contributes to leadership skills development through four interconnected strategies: global networking and convening, collaboration and collective action, peer learning and service, and knowledge creation and dissemination.

Global Networking and Convening
Synergos has established an active global network to enable social activists, social entrepreneurs, social investors, and key partners to exchange expertise and experience, form inter-institutional linkages, gain a deeper understanding of how they can be more effective in their work, and obtain state-of-the-art information on best practices from around the world. Through this process, we are creating a reliable support, exchange, and mutual aid system that allows civil society leaders to draw upon peer assistance over the long term.

Being a member of the Synergos "family" connects Fellows to Synergos’ far-reaching networks, including the Global Philanthropists Circle, which hold immense expertise in a variety of areas that can assist Fellows with their challenges and needs.

Through Synergos' networks, Fellows also gain international exposure, perspectives, and camaraderie.

Networking and convening activities include annual global summits, country/regional gatherings, peer exchanges/field assignments, and on-line interactions.

Collaboration and Collective Action
Many challenges posed by poverty and inequity around the world are often too complex for organizations to address on their own. Creating solutions and taking to scale what works often requires collaboration. Fellows have formed local and global affinity groups to make a significant contribution to the work of the individual Fellow and to the fields of development, social justice, and philanthropy.

Some collaborative efforts have broadened into larger scale cross-sector partnerships: creatively combining the resources of government, the market knowledge of corporations, the social connection of civil society, and the participation of communities. An aim of the Senior Fellows Network is to build the capacities and access of Fellows to engage viably and substantively in multi-stakeholder partnerships. Fellows become clients of, as well as participants in, Synergos' Partnerships program, which aims to create breakthrough solutions to global challenges by assembling partnerships that transcend traditional social boundaries and problem-solving methods.

Peer Learning and Service
Fellows sharpen their leadership skills by setting personal learning goals that guide their participation in the fellowship. They draw upon the experience of their peers to learn new competencies to take back to their organizations.

Senior Fellows also provide strategic and technical advice to foundations and other civil society organizations through workshops, peer coaching, and field assignments. These field assignments not only teach others, but also expand the Fellow's own networks and skills. Topics include social justice programming, community organizing, engaging the public/private sectors, and innovative anti-poverty program design.

Knowledge Production and Dissemination
Each Senior Fellow makes at least one significant contribution of knowledge or experience in his or her field of expertise. All papers, presentations, models, tools, and studies created by Fellows are collected, organized and disseminated. Knowledge products explore practical, theoretical and conceptual topics. Distribution is made to the Fellows' institutions and many organizations worldwide.

For More Information

Please contact:
Senior Fellows Network Manager
Tel +1 (212) 447-8111
Fax +1 (212) 447-8119
seniorfellows@synergos.org