India Acumen Fellowship Program in India

After Fellow Candidates complete the program they join The Foundry, a community of like-minded peers who are 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 capital, coaching, and continuous learning as part of lifelong accompaniment on their journey to creating social change.

• Cohort-Based Learning: Draw inspiration from thought-provoking readings, videos, and reflections.
• Blended Content: Combination of virtual and in-person seminars to allow flexibility
• World-Class Curriculum: Get expert coaching and consulting from the partners
• Real-world applicability: Gain recognition for your work to amplify impact across new domains

Program Details

• Fellow Candidates remain in their jobs while taking part in a hybrid series of in-person seminars and virtual workshops which are paired with online group and individual assignments to create an engaged community where practical skills meet moral imagination. Fellow Candidates build trust and test new leadership skills within their cohort. This cohort-based model creates deep bonds which persist well beyond the program, and Fellows build peer relationships that prove invaluable on their journey toward creating greater impact. The following is a high-level overview of the Fellowship curriculum.
  • Virtual immersive: 5 days full-time
  • Virtual workshop: 2 weeks 8-10 hours/week
  • Residential immersive: 5 days full-time
  • Virtual workshop: 2 weeks 8-10 hours/week
  • Residential immersive: 5 days full-time
• Polarities Management
  • Cultivate the ability to lead effectively when opposing but interdependent values are in tension.
• Good Society Reading
  • Explore the meaning of a just society and the moral and historical foundation 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 what it means to catalyze change at the personal, organizational, and societal levels, navigating uncertainty and embracing the gradual process that is meaningful change.
• Authentic Voice
  • Develop the capacity to tell meaningful stories that speak across lines of difference and move others to action.

Fellowship Impact

• Fellows come from all walks of life – they work in all sectors, industries, and issue areas, and share the determination and vision to build a world based on dignity. The Fellows Program supports the Fellows’ impact across three levels:
  • Individual: Fellows are challenged to reflect on their values and behavior, and to change the way they think of and engage with larger systems to create a world based on dignity
  • Organizational: The program offers a space to practice new leadership methods that create different outcomes in their teams and organizations
  • Societal: The program enables a deeper understanding of how to extend the influence directly or through the organizational work across their broader communities and ecosystems
• At its core, the Fellowship is focused on translating this impact into three interconnect outcomes:
  • The Foundry: Fellows belong to the global community, The Foundry, that accompanies them over a lifetime, creating opportunities for support, collaboration and collective impact.
  • Moral Leadership: Fellows help catalyze the practices of Moral Leadership within society, building a growing movement that strives to role model a world based on dignity.
  • Reimagining success: 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 engage with systemic problems of poverty.

Who are they looking for?

• The Fellowship looks for “builders” who are working to solve problems of poverty.  Builders include Founders, CEOs, and senior leaders (COO, MD, etc.) at for-profit, nonprofit, or hybrid social enterprises as well as corporate or government sector intrapreneurs. While these titles offer a glimpse of the types of roles Fellows play, what matters most is what you’re building and the track record of your impact.
• Applicants must have a minimum of 5 years of professional experience and should be able to demonstrate their commitment to solving issues of poverty.
• Applicants should demonstrate their ability and willingness to give (contributing their knowledge, experiences, networks, and/or ideas) and receive support from the Foundry.
• Applicants must have a reliable internet connection, be fully available to participate throughout the entirety of the program, and be able to participate in English or Spanish depending on the region and medium of instruction.

Eligibility Criteria

• There is no maximum age limit, however the applicant must be over the age of 18 to apply for the Fellowship.
• All seminars and training are conducted in English, with the exception of the Colombia and Spain programs, which are offered in Spanish. Proficiency in the language that the program will be conducted in is a requirement to ensure Fellows are able to give and get the most from this experience.
• Each cohort of Acumen Fellows must be composed of individuals who have not previously taken part in an Acumen Fellows program. This is specific to Acumen’s programs; candidates who have participated in other fellowships or leadership programs, or who have taken Acumen Academy courses, are welcome to apply.
• Taking Acumen Academy courses prior to the Fellowship is strongly encouraged.
• At this time, they are targeting individuals whose work has a direct impact in the regions below:
  • Colombia
  • East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Burundi, South Sudan)
  • India
  • Malaysia
  • Pakistan
  • Spain
  • UK
  • West Africa (Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, The Gambia)
  • The Rockefeller Foundation – Acumen Food Systems Fellowship (Global Program).

For more information, visit Acumen Academy.