The Vriksh Fellowship
The last date for filling the application form is September 30, 2021
The Vriksh is an incubation platform for early-stage social leaders who are working for the benefit of economically or socially disadvantaged section of Indian Society.
What does Vriksh stand for?
Vriskh stands for a Tree (in English). Just as a tree gives shelter to pilgrims on their pilgrimage, we at The Vriksh envision to serve our social leaders on their journey towards societal transformation. The Vriksh in nature inspires us to become The Vriksh of the social leaders.
THE VRIKSH FELLOWSHIP
The Vriksh Fellowship with a purpose to financially support the journey of early-stage Social Leaders who are working for the benefit of economically or socially disadvantaged section of Indian Society (anywhere in the slums, rural or tribal areas). The fellowship is an initiative of Sahaj Foundation, and it envisions to provide a monthly support of Rs 12,000 to select Social Leaders for their personal daily sustenance while they continue to do their work with communities full-time. The pre-requisites of this 2+1 years long fellowship require the applicant to be 1) a founder/co-founder of the initiative 2) engaged with the not-for-profit social initiative full-time for minimum one-year. The interested ones may choose to apply in English as well as in Hindi.
Kindly help us to spread the word and reach out to the Social Leaders who are in the beginning phase of their work.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY
Any Social Leader who is presently working for the benefit of economically or socially disadvantaged section of the Indian society residing anywhere in slums, rural or tribal areas of the country, and who:
- is a founder or co-founder of his/her social initiative.
- is engaged in the social initiative full-time for minimum one year. The social initiative must be an original idea of the applicant and must be a non-profit.
- is willing to work full time in his/her social initiative for the entire duration of the fellowship
- envisions to promote a healthy value system, thereby encouraging compassion, social and economic equality, justice, secularism, co-operation etc
- is able to provide details on how he/she is sustaining at the time of making the application
- is able to provide a realistic plan how he/she will become self-sustaining at the end of the fellowship to continue the work
- is 22 years of age or older (Born on or before December 31, 1999)
The social leaders who have registered their own organization for their initiatives shall be given preference for the fellowship. For the ones who have not registered their organization at the time of making application for the fellowship, our team shall either ask them to register or try to understand their reasons for not filing a registration, just in case they have any ideological reasons for the same. If the team finds mentioned ideological reasons satisfactory, it shall consider the application for the fellowship.
WHO IS NOT ELIGIBLE TO APPLY
– Any new project of an existing old organization
– Religious initiatives
– Research Studies
– Advocacy/lobbying initiatives
– Recipient of other similar fellowships
SELECTION PROCESS
- Round 1: Preliminary Application Form
- Round 2: Detailed Application Form
- Round 3: Telephonic Interview
- Round 4: Field Visit to understand on ground presence of the initiative
MONITORING
During the course of the fellowship, the fellows shall be required to submit a monthly report of their activities in a very simple format, that would ask for list of activities done, activity’ purpose, brief description, number/profile of people benefited, outcome etc. In addition, our execution team shall stay in touch with the fellows on phone (at least one phone call per quarter) and also shall visit them on-field at least once a year.
No interference Policy: During the course of the fellowship, for two/three years, our role would be to support the fellows financially by providing Rs 12,000 per month. In addition, we may also encourage or invite the fellows for further capacity-building or self-development based on his/her interest, by either organizing a workshop on our own or by recommending a workshop being conducted by some other organizations on specific topics. This aspect of capacity-building or self-development shall be absolutely optional for the fellow to benefit from; our team shall not try to impose it on the fellow by any means. Our team shall also not try to interfere with the work of the fellows; we shall only offer our non-financial support whenever sought, we shall not impose it or make it mandatory. However, advice or guidance may be provided at any time.
