India Acumen Fellows Program 2023 Cohort

Application Closing date 25th November 2022 (23:59 IST)

ACUMEN ACADEMY, INDIA

We are equipping extraordinary leaders with the capacity to positively transform society. The Acumen Fellowship is an intensive leadership development program for individuals who are building the solutions to tackle the toughest problems of our time.
The Acumen Fellows Program will bring together exceptional leaders from across India who are daring to embrace the difficult journey of social change. Over the course of the year, the Fellow will come together to learn with–and from–each other. As a deeply bonded cohort, they will engage with a curriculum that is based on practical skills and character, geared towards action and grounded in the value of moral leadership. After they finish the first year of the Fellowship, the Fellows join our global community of more than 1000 Fellows.

Acumen Academy is a university, reimagined—offering anyone, anywhere access to the training they need to be effective agents of change. As the world’s first and largest global school for social change, we are unleashing entrepreneurial moral leadership by making the knowledge, expertise, and resources of Acumen and its trusted community widely available and accessible. Acumen Academy blends the best of online and offline learning to build the practical skills needed to achieve social change. Our communities are locally rooted in the change they are driving, yet globally connected in learning, collaborating, challenging, and supporting each other. The Acumen Academy team, its 700 Fellows, and 500,000 coursetakers represent a global ecosystem of learners and doers, ready to think differently, learn collaboratively, and build a more just and inclusive world.

To learn more, visit acumenacademy.org/fellowship/india

WELCOME

We are excited that you will be applying to the Acumen Fellowship Program in India and taking this step in deepening your impact in the communities.

We want to help you learn more about the program, what to expect from the application process, and how you can be a successful applicant to potentially join the 2022 cohort of social innovators.

THE FELLOWSHIP

The Acumen Fellowship starts with a year-long transformational experience focused on building the character and community needed to tackle long standing problems of poverty and injustice. After the completion of the program, you join our community of Fellows from across the globe, a group of more than 800 remarkable individuals committed to a lifelong journey of mastering the principles and practices of moral leadership and social action.

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
Our Fellows are all ages, come from diverse cultural, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds and work across multiple sectors. The India Fellows Program is for individuals who are currently leading, or are an integral part of building an organization or initiative that exists to eradicate poverty and are actively changing the systems they operate in. They work full-time on this initiative and typically fall in one of the following trajectories:

Social entrepreneurs who have launched or lead their own social change initiatives (non-profit or for-profit).

Social intrapreneurs who are running a social change initiative within an existing organization (private or public sector).

Organizational builders who are an integral part of building a social change organization, but do not play a founding role.

We seek Fellows who are committed to collaboration, who possess humility, resilience and grit, who are driven by a deep sense of purpose and have the capacity to influence and inspire action.

In The Fellowship Program You Will:

FELLOWSHIP OVERVIEW

GOOD SOCIETY READINGS

The Good Society Readings use classical and contemporary texts to explore the meaning, values and tradeoffs in building a just society. Through these discussions, Fellows reflect on core human values, and cultivate a richer perspective of their social change work in a broader historical context.

ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP

Adaptive Leadership is a practical framework that helps individuals and organizations lead change, particularly during times of uncertainty. These sessions support the Fellows’ individual and collective abilities to catalyze and embrace the gradual and meaningful process of change.

POLARITIES MANAGEMENT

Polarities Management build the capacity of Fellows to hold contradictory values and beliefs to be effective agents of social change. This ability enables leaders to be more proactive and nuanced in designing and supporting the solutions needed to tackle complex challenges.

AUTHENTIC VOICE

Authentic Voice is a storytelling approach that focuses on public storytelling in service of translating the speaker’s values into the audience’s actions. During these sessions, Fellows further ground themselves in their purpose and develop their capacity to understand audience and build narrative with the aim of moving others to act.

SYSTEMS THINKING

Systems Thinking is a framework to help Fellows grapple with problems in complex environments and create large scale, lasting social change. Fellows develop capacities to actively listen to various stakeholders, explore the forces within a system, construct a collective narrative, and analyze the system to find opportunities for leverage.

STAGE 1

ONLINE FORM

10th Oct, 2022 to 25th Nov, 2022

STAGE 2

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENTS

15th Dec, 2022 to 6th Jan, 2023

STAGE 3

SELECTION CONFERENCE

Feb 10th, 2023 & Feb 11th, 2023

Note: We will be doing 2 cohorts (Spring and Fall) in 2023 and will communicate the exact course timelines before the Selection Conference

THE PROGRAM STRUCTURE

IMMERSIVE

6 DAYS
FULL-TIME

WORKSHOP

4 WEEKS
8-10 HOURS
PER WEEK

IMMERSIVE

6 DAYS
FULL-TIME

4 WEEKS
8-10 HOURS
PER WEEK

IMMERSIVE

6 DAYS
FULL-TIME

WORKSHOP IMMERSIVE

Note: We will be doing 2 cohorts (Spring and Fall) in 2023 and will communicate the exact course timelines as we move closer to the Selection Conference in February

Application Process

Our application process consists of these stages.

• Stage 1: Apply online through the application form — what are you telling us? Applications open on 10th Oct and close 25th Nov, 2022
• Stage 2: Complete your online assignments — what are you showing us? Assignments open on Dec 17th, 2022 and close on Jan 6th, 2023
• Stage 3: Attend the Selection Conference — why is this the right time for you to be a Fellow? The Selection Conference is on Feb 10th and 11th, 2023
• START: Embark on the Acumen Fellowship journey in March (Spring cohort) and June (Fall cohort)

Note : As this is a part-time fellowship, we do not provide scholarships, stipends, funding or insurance. Acumen covers all fellowship related expenses during the fellowship year. This includes all costs associated with the in-person seminars including lodging, food, transportation, etc.

Get a head start; read the two-pager about the Fellowship program and the application process. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IKc2EqDI9eMub_qYzuI6WYHXDgSBLH7h?usp=sharing

Click here to know more and apply