Asia-Pacific Climate Health Leadership Program

Background and Rationale

The Asia-Pacific is on the frontline of the climate crisis. Rising heat, shifting disease patterns, food insecurity, displacement, and recurring disasters are testing health systems like never before. Meeting these challenges requires more than technical expertise — it demands transformational leadership.

This program prepares emerging health leaders under 35 to mobilize diverse stakeholders and drive systemic adaptation. Fellows will master multiple forms of influence — New Power, Soft Power, Informal Authority, Climate Diplomacy, and Public Narrative — alongside AI and systems innovation approaches to design solutions grounded in real-world complexity.

Unlike traditional training, this fellowship is impact-based: Fellows form transnational partnerships and deploy dual-country leadership projects within their current professional arenas. Each fellow will lead a project in their home country while collaborating directly with a teammate from a second country on a connected initiative, creating opportunities for comparative learning and regional innovation.

Program Objectives

1. Develop Transformational Leaders – Build adaptive capacity, systems thinking, and cross-boundary leadership.

2. Catalyze Transnational Collaboration – Pair fellows across countries to co-design and deliver dual-country leadership projects.

3. Generate Impactful Solutions – Anchor learning in real-world projects within fellows’ current arenas of work, producing measurable community benefit and regional lessons.

4. Institutionalizing as University-hosted Graduate Programs – Develop multi-university consortia to host graduate programs in-country.  

Participants

• Fellows: 30–40 emerging health leaders under 35, with up to four participants selected per country.

• Profiles: Public health practitioners, health professionals, researchers, NGO leaders, policymakers.

• Diversity: Inclusive of gender balance, indigenous and island leaders, and those from vulnerable or conflict-affected contexts.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must meet the following minimum requirements:

• Be 35 years old or younger at the time of application.

• Have at least two years of professional experience in:

  • Public health or community health practice, or

  • Health systems development and strengthening.

• Demonstrated commitment to advancing climate and health action in their country or community.

• Ability to commit to the full 11-month fellowship program (with optional extension to 24 months).

• Proficiency in English (working language of the program).

Selection Criteria

Applicants will be assessed on:

• Professional experience: Contributions in public health, community health, or health systems development.

• Leadership potential: Initiative, problem-solving, and mobilizing others.

• Commitment to impact: Motivation to implement a dual-country leadership project with measurable benefit.

• Collaboration readiness: Ability to co-lead projects with a teammate from another country.

• Diversity and inclusion: Representation from underrepresented groups and geographies.

Program Design

Duration: 11 months, with the option to extend to 24 months for scaling and sustaining leadership projects.

Learning Anchors

• Climate and Health Frontiers – Risks, resilience, and adaptation pathways.

• Complexity and Systems Innovation – Systems mapping, leverage points, and prototyping solutions.

• AI for Climate-Health – Using data, predictive tools, and decision support for adaptation.

• Adaptive Leadership Practicum – Distinguishing adaptive from technical challenges; mobilizing beyond authority.

• Power and Influence Frameworks – Applied practice in:

  • New Power: Networked, participatory mobilization.

  • Soft Power: Persuasion and cultural influence.

  • Informal Authority: Building trust without positional power.

  • Climate Diplomacy: Forging alliances across sectors and borders.

  • Public Narrative: Story of Self, Us, and Now to mobilize collective action.
    
    

Impact-Based Learning

• Dual-Country Leadership Projects: Each fellow leads a project in their home country while collaborating with a teammate from another country on a shared theme (e.g., urban heat and health, resilient hospitals, food security and malnutrition, or climate-sensitive diseases).

• Local Anchors: Projects are deployed within fellows’ current professional arenas (e.g., hospitals, health departments, NGOs, or community networks).

• Transnational Teams: Pairs of fellows link projects across borders, generating comparative insights and regional outputs.

• Mentorship: Fellows receive guidance from regional leaders in health, climate, governance, and storytelling.
  
  

Capstone Deliverables

• Local Impact: Each fellow delivers measurable outcomes in their home-country and partner-country project.

• Dual-Country Outputs: Each pair produces comparative toolkits, policy briefs, or prototypes that capture lessons across two countries.

• Regional Forum: Fellows present results, narratives, and transnational outputs at a Climate and Health Leadership Dialogue with policymakers, funders, and partners.

Partnerships

• Host Institution: Asian School of Governance with academic, UN, and regional health partners.

• Strategic Partners: WHO, UNICEF, UNDP, ADB, and climate-health networks.

• Knowledge Partners: Universities, think tanks, innovation hubs, and leadership institutes.
  
  

Expected Outcomes

• 30–40 fellows trained in adaptive leadership, systems innovation, and AI applications.

• Up to four fellows per country to ensure balanced representation.

• 15–20 dual-country leadership projects deployed within fellows’ professional arenas.

• Comparative regional outputs created by each pair of fellows.

• Fellows skilled in deploying Public Narrative, New Power, Soft Power, Informal Authority, and Climate Diplomacy.

• Strengthened regional network of young leaders influencing climate-health policy and practice.
  
  

Impact Pathway

• Short-term: Fellows apply leadership, AI, and systems innovation in dual-country initiatives.

• Medium-term: Comparative outputs and cross-border collaborations inform regional dialogues and policy.

• Long-term: A sustained leadership network drives systemic health adaptation across the Asia-Pacific, with projects scalable beyond 24 months.