Ban Ki-moon Global Citizen Scholarship Program 2026 for young changemakers (USD 500 seed grant ) – Scholarship Opportunities

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Application Deadline: March 4th, 2026

Applications are now open for the 2026 Ban Ki-moon Global Citizen Scholarship Program. After multiple cycles of the Global Citizen Scholarship Program, the Ban Ki-moon Foundation announces another call for applications for what will be the 9th round of the Global Citizen Scholarship Program with the objective to empower young global citizens who are passionate about taking action for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The GC Scholarship is a fully virtual scholarship program that empowers young changemakers to address one or more of the SDGs in their community by proposing and implementing a localized changemaker project whilst also benefitting from a summer school as well as peer-to-peer mentoring and various expert trainings and workshops on specific topics.

Requirements

The GC Scholarship program targets 16 young changemakers, ages 20 to 35 from the following African, Middle Eastern, South Asian and Southeast Asian countries:

• Africa: Cameroon, Ethiopia, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe,
• Middle East: Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE
• South Asia:  Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
• Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Vietnam

Selected applicants will be joined by one Management Center Innsbruck University student, forming a cohort of 17 changemakers participating in this year’s scholarship.

Benefits

• Over the course of 8-9 months, the selected Scholars will get the chance to enhance their skillset on the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, elevate their knowledge with regards to the field of entrepreneurship for sustainable development, and connect with professional networks.
• Besides this, some of the benefits will include full cost coverage for a two-week summer school training with Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) University and coverage also of other expert workshops, a peer-to-peer mentoring component, and seed funding of 500 EUR to support the implementation of a changemaker project to be distributed after the successful submission of a project proposal.
• Lastly, Scholars will be awarded a certificate of achievement after the successful completion of their own changemaker project signed by both Co-chairs of the Ban Ki-moon Foundation, H.E. Ban Ki-moon and H.E. Dr Heinz Fischer.

Application Procedure:

During the nomination process you will need to enter:

• Your personal details (e.g. name, contact information, date of birth, address, citizenship, gender, education, language competence, short profile description)
• Your professional details (e.g. academic titles, name of organization, function)
• Changemaker project information (title, issues and SDGs tackled, general process and implementation)

At the final stage of the nomination process you will be prompted to attach the following:

• your motivational statement
• a portrait picture of yourself (JPEG or PNG format)
• an introduction video of yourself (max 60 seconds, MP4 or MOV format)
• your CV
• a project outline of your changemaker project idea

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Ban Ki-moon Global Citizen Scholarship Program