Applications are invited for The Vriksh Fellowship 2021 for Empowering Social Leaders by Sahaj Foundation. The last date of application is 30 September.

About the Fellowship

The Vriksh Fellowship is an initiative to support such social leaders so that they can continue the work in their beginning years and reach a point from where they can sustain it from its own side. The fellowship aims to support the social leaders who are 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.

Objective

To financially support early-stage Social Leaders who are working for the benefit of economically or socially disadvantaged section of Indian Society, residing anywhere in slums, rural or tribal areas of the country.

Looking for similar opportunities, join Opportunity Cell on WhatsApp or Telegram here.

Eligibility

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)

Note: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.

Fellowship Amount

  • The purpose of the fellowship is to identify and support the social leaders by providing them a monthly financial assistance of Rs 12,000 each for their daily sustenance for a period of 2 years (+1 year based on requirement and commitment); with an understanding that while they continue to work full-time on their initiatives, they would be able to find a practical way to self-sustain their efforts post the fellowship.

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

Mentoring

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.

How to Apply

Looking for similar opportunities, join Opportunity Cell on WhatsApp or Telegram here.

Engineering, Entrepreneurship, Fellowships, Management, Social Sciences