The Global Policy, Diplomacy, and Sustainability Young Leaders’ Program (GPODS-YLP) is a 12-week global learning experience designed for high-performing high school students and early undergraduate students who wish to engage seriously with global affairs at an early stage in their intellectual development.

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The program combines eight weeks of structured learning and mentorship with a four-week capstone phase, allowing participants to apply what they have learned to a focused policy or research project.

GPODS-YLP grew out of the Global Policy, Diplomacy, and Sustainability (GPODS) Fellowship, which was established in 2020. Over the years, the Fellowship began receiving a large number of enquiries from high school students and early undergraduate students who wished to participate but were often too early in their academic journeys to join the main fellowship.

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The Young Leaders’ Program was created in response to this demand. Its purpose is to make the GPODS ecosystem accessible to younger participants who are beginning to explore global policy, diplomacy, and sustainability but are ready for serious intellectual engagement.

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GPODS-YLP introduces participants to the ideas, institutions, and decision-making frameworks that shape global politics, diplomacy, economic governance, and sustainability policy. The emphasis is on intellectual formation—helping students understand how complex global problems emerge, how institutions respond to them, and how trade-offs are evaluated in real decision-making environments.