ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2022
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. Over 31,000 young leaders on 2,400+ campuses across 140+ nations applied to join the Class of 2022. 200+ campuses worldwide (just 8%) were selected to host the 3,000+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT KUSHAGR NIGAM, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2022.
University College London | London, United Kingdom | Advancing SDG 10 & UNAI 6
" Driven by a desire to reduce the gaps in marginalized communities’ access to justice, I’m excited to work with the Millennium Fellowship this semester, as it’ll take my passion for community uplift to a scale beyond my past pursuits. By developing skills and working with a community that's driven to advance the UN’s SDGs, I believe that the Fellowship will help translate those critical elements, coupled with passion, into actionable and powerful solutions for disenfranchised populations in urban communities. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Bridging the Gap
The democratic promise is one achieved by meaningful civic participation, and where marginalized communities are inadequately advocated for by their representatives, the system has failed. Recognizing the disconnect between representatives and underserved communities, ‘Bridging the Gap’ seeks to eliminate that interruption of the democratic process through a multi-stage approach.
By modernizing current civic participation models, adapting traditionally successful schemes to vulnerable populations’ needs, ‘Bridging the Gap’ will hope to gather insights from these populations on issues including public aid and access to justice.
And after collection, ‘Bridging the Gap’ will utilize research teams composed of students and academics in the relevant field, to produce an accessible policy report that presents and analyzes stakeholders’ issues in a meaningful manner, with research-guided policy recommendations offered, oriented around being actionable solutions policy-makers can utilize.
And finally, ‘Bridging the Gap’ will partner with local/national representatives, but also with external civil society organizations to bring insights onto the discussion table, advocating directly with policy-makers for change on the issues.
Furthermore, through live tracking of subsequent work on the issues, and the creation of an accessible checker for relevant parliamentary action, ‘Bridging the Gap’ will hold representatives accountable before the people who elected them.
About the Millennium Fellow
Kushagr Nigam is an innovative and motivated second-year law student at the University College London with interests in the intersection of economics, political science, and law.
Through several years of experience working in the public interest sphere, from civil justice nonprofits to government aid agencies, he’s fostered a passion for goal-driven advocacy and policy-making. Committed to overcoming social issues pertaining to access to justice and socioeconomic divides, he hopes to pursue a career in public interest international law or legal academia.