Tony Blair Faith Foundation and Interfaith Youth Core Announce First Class of Faith Acts Fellows

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-04-21 07:25:00 UTC
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Today, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and Interfaith Youth Core announced the first ever class of "Faith Acts Fellows." The 30 selected students represent diverse faith backgrounds in the US, UK, and Canada, and will spend the next year or so putting an interfaith commitment to service into practice by taking on anti-Malaria efforts.

As a person who designs "global engagement" programs to better help young people learn how to do good well, I've been really impressed with the structure of this fellowship since I first heard about it a few months ago. The idea is right in the name: "Faith Acts."

Basically, the students spend a few weeks each in London and Chicago doing interfaith training before heading to a sub-Saharan African country to learn from communities who experience and are actively working to combat the devastating impact of malaria. After those combined experiences, they spend the next eight months engaged with grassroots faith communities in their home countries building awareness of and support for anti-Malaria efforts.

I think a lot of things are cool here. First, I love that the whole point is putting faith into action - that's what I've always loved about IFYC, which was started by Ashoka Fellow Eboo Patel. Second, I believe firmly that there is no educational substitute for actually learning directly from communities experiencing a problem if you're trying to change the world. Finally, I think that it makes a ton of sense to have the biggest chunk of the experience be bringing the issue of Malaria back home and becoming a bridge to local grassroots faith groups. To me, that shows a real understanding of both the limitations and unique assets the young fellows will bring to this experience.

Read more about the program here and congrats to the 30 new fellows!

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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