“ One of the key behavioural changes which I think is that now I have become way much more mindful of the privileges that I’ve had. With respect to the past few months, I’ve grown up in a very sheltered and privileged environment. Stepping out of my comfort zone and in such a big way has made me more resilient and adaptable as a person.”
Goonj Urban Fellowship
Applications for Goonj Fellowship 2023-24 are closed !
Overview
Goonj Fellowship is an immersion experience for young graduates and professionals to understand the practical aspects of working on issues and an opportunity to get the first-hand experience of realities of India.
This Fellowship began with the idea to engage youth of the country into being doers rather than thinkers. The attempt is to expose them to the challenges, realities, issues and problems which exist within the communities.
It is a platform where they devise their solutions for the problems they face and understand the ecosystem through the work they are engaged in. The aim is to bring passionate individuals who have the zeal to contribute towards society.
In August 2018, the first cohort of the fellowship was inducted and since then each year fellows hailing from diverse backgrounds commit a year long engagement to learn, unlearn and act.
One Year Major Take Aways:
- Learning and Unlearning
- Material management
- Leadership and problem solving
- Empathy
- Self exploration
- Public speaking and communication.
Immersing into realities
Fellows will have an immersion phase where they. work on mapping of specific urban and rural communities to get a deeper understanding of their living.
They get a chance to observe and engage with communities by visiting the fields areas of the organization to understand the core issues.
Fellows get a chance to explore their interest areas and chart out a plan for themselves
upon which they act.
The year long programme, includes
● Urban phase where Fellows will be deeply engaged in various urban initiatives, events, and operations of Goonj such as engaging in
urban campaigns. A perfect opportunity to witness our work with urban communities, partners, and stakeholders.
● Rural phase where fellows will be thrown deep into our rural programs and operations. To learn from grassroots knowledge and traditional wisdom, the very foundation of our objectives.
● Self exploration phase which is an unique window of time to go through some self-churning, and identify interest areas or domains one is passionate about. During the entire fellowship process, An attempt is made to guide fellows by experts of social sector from Goonj and other organizations. And regular review meets are organized to discuss on the experiences, learnings, challenges and personal growth of fellows and to chart out a plan for the next phase.
