India Fellow Social Leadership Program (17th cohort)
Application deadline is 20th June 2024
India Fellow‘s Our vision is a future where leaders in all spheres of life are driven by compassion, commitment and understanding of the social challenges that India faces and have a deep desire to make a difference.
Our mission is to engage young Indians in nation building. We want young Indians to get exposed to the myriad social challenges that India is facing and find their leadership potential, shape their future and make a difference.
Our Objective Create a learning platform for young Indians who undergo an 18-month long journey of discovering their own leadership potential. It includes training, mentor-ship, reflections and hands-on work experience with a grassroots organization working on social issues.
We are looking for potential leaders of tomorrow. We believe that these leaders should exhibit certain values which are at the heart of a social leadership journey. The fellows, fellowship team, partners and all other associates would be expected to live by these values.
Authenticity
Be true to oneself and others without fear. Congruence between thought and actions
Openness To Learning
Committed to learn and also help others learn
Humility
Patience, a humble approach to service combined with good humor
Flexibility & Adaptability
Ability to be flexible and adaptable when facing difficult situations
Commitment To Change
Committed to explore ways to your own personal role to bring social change in society
Perseverance
Persistence in doing something that you believe in, despite difficulty or delay in achieving success
- Development of India is responsibility of everyone – government, corporates, civil society and citizens
- In each and every sector, India needs talented young leaders who have had deep exposure to India’s broader realities
- Experiential learning will help youngsters find their path to contribute to social change irrespective of which career they choose
Young people have tremendous potential to bring change. In order to channelize such passion, we need to invest in these young leaders. We need to ensure that there are enough opportunities for them to get exposed to India’s social development challenges. Additionally, we have to create spaces for them to explore their role within it. This would enable them to approach the future with the passion and purpose they need to make an impact.
To be a socially conscious leader, one will also need to develop life skills and imbibe fundamental ethos and values. This would help take their determination forward.
We believe that a combination of an immersive grassroots experience with a credible non-profit organization along with training and mentoring will come together to help bring out one’s best.
Through the India Fellow program, we want to capture the attention of young people from all walks of life, with diverse career interests, to dig in and get their hands dirty, to get to know the development challenges through work engagements, training and coaching. This will help them in becoming committed and passionate leaders of tomorrow, and contribute in their localities and the world.
The India Fellow design has four prime pieces that fit into each other seamlessly over the full-time duration of 18 months
Working At Grassroots
Fellows spend most of their time working at grassroots with an organization committed to bring social change. This can be anywhere across the country and in any theme. The fellow lives in their work area, typically a rural or a peri-urban setup. They work with people, team and mentors to understand the complexities. This powerful experience inculcates sensitivity, consciousness and a deeper understanding of the social issues India faces.
Training
India Fellow has 8 weeks of residential training, spread across the duration of 18 months. It is mandatory for all the fellows to come together at a common place for these. This is divided into four parts, every six months into the journey – induction, midpoint, travel workshop and endpoint. The India Fellow pedagogy is unique. It takes the fellow from knowledge to wisdom. Additionally, it engages a strong collective of varied sector leaders, academicians, researchers and practitioners.
Mentorship
Every fellow is exposed to a pool of mentors, both from the host organization as well as the fellowship’s own network. A mentor is an expert in their domain, someone who would be a philosopher and a guide to the fellow. Along with that, the fellowship ecosystem consists of facilitators and alumni from various walks of life. Fellows get to meet them during offline and online training. This helps the fellow build meaningful relationships and an influential network for professional growth. Here’s a bit about our mentors.
Continuous Learning
To ensure a balance between action and reflection, throughout the 18 months, fellows document their observations, experiences and insights as blogs/vlogs/podcasts. There are virtual sessions with mentors, online courses and collective fundraising. All this builds a holistic understanding of the civil society action and develops crucial skills. We have designed this component in such a way that the fellows can leverage every opportunity to learn with peers.
A Closer Look At The Financials
The financials of the fellowship is designed sensitively, such that all key stakeholders – fellow, host and fellowship team part take in it to keep the platform thriving. Hence, it will not be fair to view the fellowship as an opportunity to have an income. Rather, view it as a scholarship one receives, to learn in myriad ways and yet have their costs covered.
Stipend To Fellow
The fellow also gets a modest but adequate stipend from the host organization for sustenance. This is INR 22,000 per month in metro cities and INR 18,000 per month in rest of the country. This ensures that they do not spend anything out of pocket in this journey for accommodation, food, local commute and so on.
Fundraising By Fellow
The cost to select and nurture a fellow through this unique journey is INR 3,00,000. The fellows join the fellowship team in a collective fundraiser, to raise this sum for the cohort that follows them. Fellows typically look at fundraising INR 1,00,000 for this. However, this is not a mandatory figure. Often our fellows raise way below or above this sum. Please note, this is not a fee because you don’t need to pay it upfront. The fundraiser happens throughout the fellowship duration of 18 months.
Eligibility Criteria To Apply
Please ensure the following is true before proceeding:
- You are between 20 to 30 years of age
- You have completed graduation (in any discipline) or will complete before the fellowship begins
- You are ready for an 18-month full time commitment
- You understand that this will expect you to be engaged 24×7 with the local community
- You understand that you can be placed in any part of India and in any thematic area
- You have read, understood and align with the philosophy and values of fellowship
Application : The application gathers all primary information about the applicant. Most answers are subjective and we need you to answer them after careful consideration.
Telephonic Conversation: Once you clear the application round, we would like to have a phone call with you for 15- 20 minutes to understand you better and help you know more about the program.
Assessment Day: Everyone who clears the above rounds makes it to the assessment day. Here applicants take part in group activities and sit down with our team one on one for a personal interview
Kindly Note: If you go past the assessment day, we extend an invite to you to join the fellowship. You can then deliberate on it to accept or reject it and let us know.
The Steps To Selection
TIMELINES
We will accept online applications for our 17th cohort from 5th April to 20th June 2024.
- Fellowship commences – 1st August 2024
- Fellowship completes – 31st January 2026
India Fellow : Application Form
(Please note that we are currently inviting applications for our cohort starting 1st August 2024. Last date to apply is 20th June 2024)
We are glad that you want to be a part of India Fellow 2024 Cohort. Please ensure the following is true before proceeding:
- You are between 20 to 30 years of age
- You are already a graduate (in any discipline) or will be before the fellowship begins
- You are ready for an 18-month full time commitment to the fellowship
- You understand that this is not just a job and will expect you to be engaged 24X7 with the local community
- You understand that you can be placed in any part of India (outside your hometown) on any social issue
- You have read, understood and align with the philosophy and values of India Fellow – http://www.indiafellow.org
- The selection process details and timeline can be found here – https://www.indiafellow.org/selection-process/.
1. What is the schedule and agenda of the trainings?
The learning structure of the fellowship is unique, it tries to promote as much openness, adaptability and flexibility. A big part of that also requires us to constantly evolve based on the cohort and India’s ever changing social fabric. We are not used to such learning patterns and understandably it may cause some anxieties. But we will keep fellows posted on the required aspects, adequately ahead of time.
2. Can I pick the geographical region and/or thematic area I want to have my work assignment in?
The fellow cannot handpick which assignment they get to do. Similarly, host organizations can submit their preferences but cannot handpick which fellow they work with. Since the fellowship ecosystem thrives on faith, each stakeholder (fellows, host organizations, mentors, alumni and team) brings into it by participating whole-heartedly and taking up opportunities with great openness and commitment. Please come into a fellowship journey, first, and know that the host role is a part of it, second.
3. What are fellows expected to do in host organizations?
The fellows will be assigned to projects after careful consideration of various factors like skillset, aspirations and experience of the fellows along with those of the requirements of the project. While the expectations may be high from a fellow, there will be some time to settle down and understand the new ecosystem that you would be in. Because this is a big decision from the fellow’s point of view to invest 18 months of their time in what could be an entirely new experience, everyone will expect fellows to be proactively taking initiative in whatever they are engaged in. Wherever there is some technicality, they will be trained and equipped with skills accordingly by the host organization and the fellowship. Community immersion, development program management and communication, engaging in team capacity building are some key ingredients of all our projects.
4. I am not sure of the stipend component? What will it cover and what will be my out-of-pocket expense? What about accommodation and the related costs associated? Will the fellowship or host organization provide/help with my accommodation?
The fellowship is a learning experience by working hands-on with grassroots organizations and also accessing high-quality training and expert mentorship. This is alongside being a part of the wider network. Above all, you need not pay any fee for it.
In terms of monetary contribution – fellows collectively fundraise, which is INR 1,00,000 per head. This also entails a lot of learning on how collectives work and skills of fundraising. All the travel cost to reach the four in-person trainings is to be borne by the fellow. All costs and arrangements during the training (accommodation, food, resource persons, material costs, etc.) is borne by the fellowship.
For the duration when the fellow works with the host organization, the organizations pay them a stipend, which is basically to cover the living expenses of the fellow. To keep parity, this amount is as follows:-
– For rural areas, if the organization provides accommodation (some organizations have their field offices and/or guest house where you can stay) the stipend is INR 15,000 per month. If the organization does not provide accommodation then the stipend is INR 18,000 per month
– For metropolitan areas of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Hyderabad, the stipend is INR 17,000 and 22,000 respectively with and without accommodation
The fellow is expected to use the stipend for living expenses like accommodation, food and local transport. Please remember that it is not a salary but a stipend. For long-distance travel, which is work-related, the organization reimburses the amount. Any other personal travel has to be borne by fellow. While the organizations are not mandated to provide accommodation to fellows, their team will be supportive and will help you make suitable arrangements on arrival at the assignment field areas.
5. Can I know some more about the fellow–host organization matching process?
While we arrived at your cohort (we have a sense of your interest area, competency and preferences and have recorded the same), we also arrived at a pool of assignments (again we have a sense of their work area, culture, preferences and have recorded the same) across host organizations spread over geography and thematic areas. Will like to reiterate that we wish you to walk into a fellowship not an assignment. All assignments are equally engaging and provide equal learning opportunities. In case of some organizations, they may wish to have a chat over a call with the fellow and we will arrange for that. In other cases it may be a perfect match and a call will not be necessary.
The matching process is fluid and dynamic due to a lot of reasons like
(i) both fellows and organizations do not know each other, we do and so have a slight advantage
(ii) organizations’ work change frequently and assignments may also change
(iii) it may not be possible to find a suitable match in some cases and so we will need to add/remove organizations
6. My folks are concerned about my safety during the 18-month journey…
It is crucial that we all get into the fellowship with the clear understanding that the main motive is to completely immerse into the 18-month experiential journey – into ourselves and the heartland of India – allowing all the learning and work experience to seep in. The fellowship consciously wants to distance itself from creating an extremely pre-informed setup since that hinders with the kind of learning we wish to promote. While we have been interacting with you during the assessment process; a better understanding can be arrived at only after the first few days into the induction training.
Having said that, we also wish to re-assure we select all host organizations after a thorough credibility assessment and only when the values of the fellowship are acceptable to them. We have a moral obligation around your safety. So, at all points, both the fellowship and host organizations take care of this. However, like in all adult relationships, each one of us is responsible for our personal safety. We will request you take this opportunity and have a candid dialogue with your folks explaining all this and the true purpose of both the fellowship and your commitment to undergoing it.
7. What about my accommodation during training?
The fellows and fellowship team members stay at the said training venue. We have training infrastructure partners for all our in-person training programs. All costs of training and boarding are borne by the fellowship. The trainings are full-time residential program and it is mandatory for the fellows to stay at the said venue. We will timely communicate venue to the fellows.
8. What do fellows do after the fellowship?
Fellows are supported to define their private dream and are equipped with the skills to pursue them, but fellows are expected to be independent and find their own way in pursuing their dream – which is the basic idea of the fellowship. Almost 70% of our alumni have stayed back in the development sector by:-
– Continuing to work in their fellowship host organizations
– Working with other grassroots organizations
– Working with social incubators, funding agencies, fellowships and CSRs
– Starting a social venture of their own to solve a problem
Quite a few have also gone ahead and pursued their higher education, work with corporates, government and bureaucracy.
9. What happens after the induction training? Do I get time between that and joining the host organization?
Once the last day of the induction training concludes you head straight to your field areas/respective host organizations. Additionally, there is no break in between. Hence, pack accordingly. While you will have access to most things there (all host organizations at least have headquarters in block levels with good access to the nearby big city), it will be advisable to carry things which are urgent for you – like prescribed medication, documents especially photo ID proof, PIO card if applicable, passport photographs, suitable clothes – accessories – footwear – toiletries, etc. Don’t worry! In our experience, one can practically travel all of India with little preparation if one is good at ‘jugaad’ and adapting! Also, try and travel light to enjoy the journey.
10. Do fellows get holidays?
Fellows will get holidays or leaves as per organizational guidelines. However, they are discouraged from taking breaks apart from those, which are scheduled, for the fellowship training. All organization’s rules and regulations like leaves, timing, payment system, reimbursements, daily allowance during travel etc. apply to the fellow. A good idea is to proactively talk to the HR and Account teams in respective host organizations and clarify these.
11. Can I arrive before/after the said date of induction training?
Please plan to reach the training residence venue on the day before the training commences throughout the day. If you are reaching before that, request you to make alternate accommodation arrangements for yourself independently. You cannot reach after the given time – every minute of the induction experience counts! Please plan your travel accordingly. The fellowship team will be available on the phone and will meet you all at the venue.
12. What kind of clothes should I carry?
Modest clothing to suit the set-ups you will be heading to bearing in mind the extreme weather (heat–rains–cold) and the travels involved. There are no moral policing or dress codes involved. Please use your judgment and pack accordingly. A sturdy pair of shoes, an umbrella/raincoat, quick-dry pajamas/salwars/shirts/kurtas will be really handy.
13. Is carrying a laptop mandatory? What are the other bare essentials we should pack?
It will be a great bonus to have your laptop. Most organizations work at the grassroots and they really look forward to having a fellow who will not just do his/her assignment but will help them with overall aspects of the organization. This includes planning, reporting, making presentations, writing proposals, etc. Assignments also will need working on the computer. Besides the fellowship virtual learning, regular blogging also can be done more conveniently if a laptop is available.
In case you do not have it, do not worry. Host organizations do have computers/desktops, which they can arrange for, and you can access the internet from the nearest cyber cafes at block levels–you will have to adapt! As mentioned, trying and traveling light and carrying things that you need urgently and important documents. You can buy most of the household items like utensils, toiletries, clothes and accessories from towns nearby to your field areas. To know more, read about the fellowship design.
