Deadline: 16-Apr-23
Applications are now open for the Sewa Fellowship, a 100-week program that equips young, bright minds with knowledge, skills and a mindset to serve the nation.
With extensive mentor support, the program bridges the needs of grassroots development with a vision for the future.
Sewa Fellowship is a strategic investment in human capacity, and grassroots organizations to build solutions for India’s complex socio-economic-cultural matrix. They believe in the power and potential of youth to drive ideas, run movements, nurture organizations, and seek truth and justice to together build a better Bharat.
In the fellowship journey, the fellows would getting trained for hundreds of hours, would interact with 80+ senior leaders from 30+ organizations, and gain meaningful hands-on skills. With the extensive curriculum, enriching grassroots experiences, and expert mentorship, the fellows will be ready to join organisations for social change or this journey would empower them enough to take initiative on their own.
With the fellowship, they aim to build a community of young, bright minds who share a common vision for the nation and the world. The commitment to support the fellows goes much beyond the 2 years, and expands to the entire impact journey of the fellows. They understand this is a lifetime of togetherness in the mission of nation building, beginning with 2 years of the fellowship.
The first cohort will begin it’s journey with a 2-week residential training in the beginning of August.
Learning Modules
- Knowledge: Case Studies of Social Impact, Philosophical Foundations of Development Research, Knowing Itihasa and Bharat, National Faultlines, Development Ecosystem, etc.
- Skills: Storytelling, Fundraising, Networking, Communication, Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, etc.
- Will Power: Social Emotional Learning, Human Centred Design, Personal Value System, Active Listening, Sensemaking, etc.
Key Elements
- The entire fellowship program is structured to maximize learning for the fellows. Here are some key elements:
- Social BootCamp: They begin the program with a 2-week residential bootcamp to provide a landscape view of the social sector, train them on key skills needed, and build perspective on development and grassroots change.
- Grassroots Work: Each fellow would have a dedicated project to serve a community. This can be in any domain of development, like education, health, livelihoods etc, based on the available projects and interests of the fellow.
- Immersive Programs: Every 3-4 months, the fellows would join an immersive program with a senior social leader to deepen their understanding of society, nation and the world.
- Digital Sessions: Every month, the fellows would have 5-6 sessions in the form of courses, peer activities, mentor sessions, and reflective exercises.
Benefits
- The support for the fellowship would be three forms. One, ₹20,000 per month during the entire period of grassroots work as stipend. Two, Around ₹1.75 Lakhs as a grant amount on the successful completion of the fellowship. Three, the accommodation and food would be taken care by their respective host organizations during the fellowship. Apart from this, there would be an additional investment on the trainings in the form of courses, reflective activities, immersive programs, and hands-on workshops.
- Duration: The fellows will be serving for 100 weeks, i.e. around 2 years with partner organisations. They are looking for candidates who are looking for a long-term commitment to social development, with a temperament to serve the nation.
Eligibility Criteria
- Indicative Age: 21-30 years
- Must have some volunteer experience with the community,with a minimum 1 year of equivalent work experience
- Language constraints based on project locations
- There is no specific academic qualification requirement for the fellowship.
Selection Process
- There are two formats to apply:
- Direct sign-up by the applicant.
- Nomination by his/her senior. This can be a reporting manager, professor, teacher, guru, colleague or a mentor.
- This would be followed by a application form, and a statement of purpose.
- The next stage of the selection involves some activities that the fellow would need to undertake in his/her own location/geography, followed by a telephonic conversation.
- The next stage involves an in-person interaction with some group activities.
- The activities in both stages are designed to fulfill three purposes: fun-filled learnings, understand the on-ground nature of the fellows, and provide an immersive perspective of the fellowship and the aspiring fellow.
For more information, visit Sewa International.