In 2023, we began developing a network of Open Climate practitioners working across all facets of the open and climate movement who can advance climate justice with an open lens.

The inaugural edition of the Open Climate Fellowship, supported by the Wikimedia Alliances Fund, brought together 7 open climate practitioners coming from various disciplinary and cultural backgrounds to engage in exchanges with other peers alongside activists, researchers, emerging leaders and other individuals working at the intersection of the open movement and the climate crisis.

During the 4-month program (February-May 2023) fellows developed new and existing projects based on their communities and areas of interest through a facilitated peer-learning process, with support and mentorship from the Open Climate team. The cohort also helped shape public-facing programming and content related to Open Climate’s mission while learning in the open and contributing to the knowledge commons.

This program aimed to encourage fellows to share the skills and experience gained from their fellowship with the communities and organizations they were a part of, to ultimately develop a culture that translates the principles of open practices into the climate action movement.

Our first fellow cohort was selected by the Open Climate team from over 270 applications collected through an open call process launched in December 2022. They came from various disciplinary backgrounds, cultural contexts and different open communities.

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