Leadership Program For Young Indians: India Fellow 16th cohort

Application closes by 15th November 2023

India Fellow is an 18-month social leadership program for young Indians willing to learn from local communities and bring change. In addition to working directly with people, fellows are engaged in training, peer-learning, mentorship and fundraising. This experience empowers India Fellows to find their own path as a social leader, shape their future and make a difference.

Vision

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.

Mission

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.

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.

Our Change Theory

To be a socially conscious leader, an individual needs to develop certain life skills and imbibe some fundamental ethos and values to drive change.

•  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.

Fellowship Design

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 (16.5 months) 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 45 days 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.

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 1,25,000 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.

Host A Fellow

Our grassroots partners, called host organization play a very crucial role in providing exposure to India Fellows

Our current pool of host organizations identify the critical need of investing time and energy in grooming the country’s youth. They have taken part in the responsibility of providing India Fellows with hands-on grassroots experience during their fellowship journey. In the bargain, they also get a young and motivated fellow in their team for a considerable duration, bringing in fresh perspective and energy.

Eligibility Criteria & Costs

• Design a project with considerable scope of engaging directly with the community on ground while contributing with their skills
• A senior host member as a mentor who can empathize with the capacity building needs of a fellow and guide them with perspectives
• Support with a monthly stipend of 18,000 INR to the fellow for sustenance. In metro cities, this amount is 22,000 INR
• Participate in experience review (between mentor, fellow and the fellowship team) twice during the fellowship tenure of 18 months

The organization placement duration for a fellow is 17 months. During this, the fellow will take mandatory leaves from work for 10 days each for the training in the 6th month and the 12th month, as a part of their fellowship learning design. For the rest of the tenure, the fellow will be based full-time in the community assigned by the host organization.

Apply to be an India Fellow

The India Fellow selection process is non-competitive and the starting point of the learning. Through a unique approach, we look at a value match between the applicant and the fellowship. Here is the eligibility criteria and steps for it

The Steps To Selection

Application : The application gathers all primary information about the applicant. Most answers are subjective and we need you to answer them after careful consideration.

Situation Judgment Test : If you clear the application round, we would ask you to answer (online) a few situation based cases and make a video submission. We will share this with you on email.

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.

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

TIMELINES

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FAQ’S

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