ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2024
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 52,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2024 on 6,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 280+ campuses worldwide (just 5%) were selected to host the 4,000+ Millennium Fellows.

UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT MARIA CHIKUNI, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2024.
University of Zimbabwe | Harare, Zimbabwe | Advancing SDG 5 & UNAI 6

" I'm more than thrilled to be a Millennium Fellow because it empowers to work as a gender equality advocate, bridging a gap between passion and impact. Through this fellowship I will gain innovation, solutions and global connection to challenge inequality and create a system that is just and fair regardless of gender. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Amplifying Girls and Women's Voices through Digitalization
This project is centered on enhancing the lives and aims to amplify girls and women's voices on campus and in local communities,to foster equal participation in public life. This comes from an empathetical point from my personal experience on overcoming financial constraints as a student,this initiative provides economic empowerment and skills development opportunity by providing women and girls with a sustainable source of income through perfume sales and also alter their participation in public life that includes decision making process, participation in politics and political matters in the country,taking responsibility of the economics of the country and partaking high paying jobs.This can only be done when a girl child gets a proper education. This project called EmpoweHer Global is a net work marketing initiative that offers an entrepreneurship opportunity to females young and middle aged , it offers perfumes to selected participants for resale at a for free and when the participants sell the perfumes,the return to replenish stock and contribute a certain fee for the sustainability of the project. Workshops will be conducted on marketing, entrepreneurship and financial management.The beneficiaries are female students who are facing financial constraints and local women in the community seeking economic development from the age of 18-45. The project 's expected outcome is financial stability , development of leadership and public speaking skills for women and girls and participants can afford their educational expenses and also promotion of gender equality.As a student who struggled financially, I understand the barriers women face. My perfume business helped me to overcome this challenge and I'm hoping to extend the support to others. The project's timeline is 1-3 months of project planning, perfume sourcing and recruiting participants, 4-6 months of training and mentorship and 7-12 months of ongoing support , evaluation and expansion.
About the Millennium Fellow
Maria Chikuni is a down to earth person,who is currently studying at the University of Zimbabwe in the faculty of social and behavioral sciences, her major is political science and diplomacy. She has a passion for gender equality,and a few years back she joined Women's Democracy Network where she was taught about the inclusivity of women in public life.


