What if 12,500 engineers committed suicide every year?

What if doctors earned average Rs. 1,666 a month?

What if teachers were forced to travel to cities and turn themselves into cheap labor?

Would you say there was something fundamentally wrong with the system?

This is the story of a quarter billion farmers & artisans in India.

 

BE THE CHANGE

Transform the lives of thousands of farmers. Apply for

INDIA AGRI FELLOWSHIP

Background

We believe in a better future.

And we’re determined to create it.

Who’s in?

About the Fellowship

We are happy to announce an year long Agri-Fellowship Journey for Undergraduates and Postgraduates in Andhra Pradesh, India, 2019 Cohort.
Join the human-centered fellowship journey that is designed for the growth of farmers and farming ecosystem in rural India and build capacity with young leaders in urban India.
Fellows would be trained resource persons who will work with farmers to help them shift towards best agricultural approaches to sustain farming, organize themselves into producer cooperatives, understand the issues in public policy and improve the support systems. They will undergo a foundation course and can specialize in any of the areas of agriculture ecosystem.
University of Commons invites young Indians to bring about change in lives of small farmers & land-less farmers. The curriculum starts with immersions for general understanding of agriculture ecosystem clubbed with action-research in gap areas. It’s an action led program eventually leading to building working solutions before the program ends. Post fellowship, participants have an opportunity to pitch for agri-startup incubation and funding.
The applications are open on a rolling basis.
Registration Open till March 31st each year for the subsequent year.

As A Change Leader You Will

  • Work with farmers in a village in Andhra Pradesh, help them climb up the value chain and increase their income.
  • Coach farmers to work in aggregations by mobilizing them into producer groups.
  • Help incubate budding farmer owned micro businesses in the village and coach them to build their enterprises.
  • Identify business opportunities for women farmers in the village and empower them for some real impact in their households.
  • Identify all the stakeholders in the Farmer Ecosystem such as NGOs, government agencies, government field force etc and collaborate with them to help farmers attain a sustainable livelihood.
  • Handhold the farmers through their journey of becoming an independent and a resilient entrepreneur.
  • Eligibility

    • Language: Telugu (Mandatory), English or Hindi as second language.
    • Age: 20 to 35 Years.
    • Location: Rural Andhra Pradesh.
    • Education: Bachelors or Masters in Agriculture, Social Work or Business Administration
    • Performance: Demonstrate strong academic or extra-curricular performance in last engagement.

  • Who Are You?

    Having sitting in classrooms, you’ve been wondering “where is the purpose?” You are busy through-out the year and there is no time for integrating a new form of impact learning in your calendar. You’ve been looking for integrated field learning or fellowship.

    Having worked in corporate, in challenging engineering, management and executive roles, you’ve been wondering ‘what next?’. Possibly you have seen many fellowships but looking at ways to take a break.

    You are considering taking a gap year, an executive MBA or fantasized by becoming a farmer yourself.

  • What would you do/learn?

    You’ll drive socio-economic inclusion for poorest of the poor in the country through learning-cum-developmental journey. Provide support and mentorship to grassroots farmers in villages in Andhra Pradesh.

    Activities will include learning from farmers, local NGOs, Agri officers, deriving market linkage strategy, partnerships, building societal brands, etc. In the process, practice the MIT U-Lab impact process, take Design Thinking practices to field and learn about basic social entrepreneurship methodologies from UoC Coaches.

    The UoC Agri-Fellowship is a 1 Year Residential, Professional program in Transformation Leadership

     

  • Who you will you work with?

    Focus will be on development contexts and poverty reduction; and you would be trained in specific techniques that enable you to support farmers and link directly to customers. You will then spend the remaining time identifying problems, designing solutions, testing ideas, and building brands. You’ll befriend small group of farmers, be with them. You may get to work 

    • Directly with farmers
    • Through Local Non-Profits
    • Through Extension Officers
    • Through Agri Officers

    You will help generating revenue for farmers whilst driving social inclusion. You will then design an exit plan for yourself such that community sustains as you finish the program.