Acumen Fellows Program in Colombia

After Fellows Program applicants complete the Program, they join The Foundry – Forging Community. A community of like-minded changemakers working across sectors and geographies to build a world based on dignity. As part of this diverse community, committed to sharing ideas and experiences, they gain access to financing, coaching and continuous learning as part of lifelong support in their journey as an agent of social change.

These Fellows are agents of change, serving in key roles within community-based organizations, leading for-profit and non-profit social enterprises, and being catalysts within both large organizations and independent initiatives.

They share a firm conviction: the eradication of poverty requires a systemic approach and the building of bridges between people from varied cultural, geographic, socioeconomic, ethnic and labor backgrounds; It requires Different Leadership, strategic, innovative and collaborative skills to drive transformative change in the society.

Program Details

The content blocks

• For more than 17 years, the flagship Fellows Program content blocks have equipped cohorts of Fellows with the knowledge, support systems and skills they need to lead social change, work in different settings and mobilize their communities.
• Candidates for the Fellows Program continue working at their jobs while participating in a hybrid series of in-person meetings and virtual workshops, combined with group and individual online missions; to create an active community where practical skills meet moral imagination. The total time commitment is approximately 36 days, mixed between structured, self-directed and group-based learning.
• Fellow candidates establish trusting relationships and test new leadership skills within their cohort. This cohort-based model creates deep bonds that last beyond the program, and members build peer-to-peer relationships that prove invaluable on their path to greater impact.
• Below is an overview of the content blocks of the Fellows Program.
  • Polarity Management
    • Cultivate the ability to lead effectively when opposing but interdependent values ​​are in tension.
  • Good Society Readings
    • Explore the meaning of a just society and the moral and historical bases of social change, through classic and contemporary texts by thinkers such as Plato, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King and Amartya Sen.
  • Adaptive Leadership
    • Learn to catalyze change at a personal, organizational and societal level, navigating uncertainty and embracing the gradual process that implies significant change.
  • Systemic thinking
    • Confront systemic problems and design more effective interventions using the moral imagination.
  • Authentic Voice
    • Develop the ability to tell meaningful stories that speak across differences and motivate others to act.

The Foundry – Forging Community

• Once they graduate, people who have participated in the Fellows Programs join The Foundry – Forjando Comunidad, gaining access to online resources, funding, coaching, and opportunities to showcase their work and expand their reach.
  • Community
    • Connect with a diverse local and global community of social innovators.
  • Financing
    • Apply for early-stage booster financing through the Angel Funds Program.
  • ‘Coaching’
    • Benefit from the mentoring and consulting offered by the allies.
  • Visibility
    • Stand out through opportunities to connect with ideal clients, talent and funders.
  • Knowledge/Learning Hub
    • Apply business tools to grow and scale your organization.

Impact of the Acumen Fellows Program

• Acumen’s cohorts of Fellows come from all walks of life: working in all sectors, industries and areas of interest, and sharing the determination and vision to build a world based on dignity. The Acumen Fellows Program supports the impact of Fellow cohorts at three levels:
  • Individual: Fellows candidates are challenged to reflect on their values ​​and behavior, and to change the way they think and relate to larger systems, so they can create a world based on dignity.
  • Organizational: The Program offers a space to practice new leadership methods that generate different results in your teams and organizations.
  • At the societal level: The Program enables a deeper understanding of how to extend influence directly or through your organizational work to your broader communities and ecosystems.
• At its core, the Acumen Fellows Program focuses on translating this impact into three interconnected outcomes:
  • The Foundry – Forging Community: Cohorts of Acumen Fellows belong to the global community (which they call The Foundry – Forging Community), which accompanies them for life, creating opportunities for support, collaboration and collective impact.
  • Moral Leadership: Acumen Fellows cohorts help catalyze Moral Leadership practices in society, building a growing movement that strives to model a world based on dignity.
  • Reimagining Success: Cohorts of Acumen Fellows help shape the actions of their organizations and initiatives to build solutions that reimagine the goals, structures and rules of existing systems in order to address the systemic problems of poverty. structures and rules of existing systems in order to address systemic problems of poverty.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Fellows Program seeks agents of change who are generating real transformations. Those people who work to solve the challenges of poverty. They can be people who have founded an organization, people in executive management (e.g. CEO) and people in authority roles (e.g. COO, the person who directs operations, etc.) of for-profit, non-profit social enterprises. for-profit or hybrid, as well as intrapreneurs working in corporations or the government sector. While these titles give an idea of ​​the roles Fellow cohorts have, what is most important is what you are building and your impact story.
• Applicants must have at least 5 years of experience in social impact and demonstrate their commitment to solving the challenges of poverty.
• Applicants must demonstrate their ability and willingness to both give (contributing their knowledge, experiences, networks and/or ideas) and receive support from The Foundry – Forging community.
• Applicants must have a stable internet connection at least once a week, be fully available to participate throughout the Program, and be able to participate in an instruction program in Spanish.

For more information, visit Acumen Academy.