Step 1: Self-Application with Basic Details and Statement of Purpose: Written/ Video Essay
Purpose: Knowing One Another

Step 2: Assignments and a Digital Interview
Purpose: Assess the following:
Respect for Community Wisdom
Curiosity and Humility
Purpose of joining the program

Step 3: 3-day physical camp, with activities and in-person interview
Purpose: Temperament Check based on
Leadership Skill
Solution Orientedness
Collaborative Working
Purpose Alignment
Personal Conversation

The selection process for the Sewa Fellowship will begin in February 2025, and the new batch will commence in July 2025.

Yes, a certificate will be awarded at the successful completion of the 2 years of the fellowship.

There are three steps in the selection process, and you'll get updates by email within 30 days after each step is done. The final results for the chosen candidates in the 2025-27 group will be shared by the end of June 2025.

An ideal fellow persona would include three elements:

Passion to serve : The fellow aspirant should have a deep inner desire to go beyond the self in the pursuit of service. The fellow aspirant should be passionate towards social development.
Purposiveness: The fellow aspirant should have a deep belief in the having of a reason for their lives. An ideal fellow would be an optimist/realist who realises that life has a purpose, and he/she must live their lives in order to find/fulfil it.
Self Awareness: An ideal fellow would have a reflective mind for delving deeper into one’s own mind and heart.

We welcome applicants from diverse fields. Social Development requires a multi-displinary approach for impact, and we are looking forward to building a diverse cohort of fellows for peer learning.

The criteria of eligibility to apply for the Sewa Fellowship are:

• Indicative Age: 21-30 years
• Must have some volunteer experience with community
• Minimum 1 year of equivalent work experience

Yes. Yes. The support for the fellowship would be three forms. One, ₹20,000 per month during the entire period of grassroots work as stipend. Two, Around ₹1.75 Lakhs as a grant amount on the successful completion of the fellowship. Three, the accommodation and food would be taken care by their respective host organizations during the fellowship. Apart from this, there would be an additional investment on the trainings in the form of courses, reflective activities, immersive programs, and hands-on workshops.

Yes. the fellows must be between the age group of 21-30 years. However, exceptional candidates are welcomed.

The fellows will be serving for 100 weeks, i.e. around 2 years with partner organisations. This would be a full-time commitment. We are looking for candidates who are looking for a long-term commitment to social development, with a temperament to serve the nation.

The curriculum will deeply rooted in a doer’s perspective of social development in the grassroots. The entire structure is based on three pillars i.e. knowledge, skill, and will-power of the individual. The fellows would undergo 300 hours of curriculum in each year, from residential bootcamps, retreat camps, and online lectures. This is over an beyond the learning experiences that would happen while working on the ground.

The curriculum is an outcome of a deep reflection on India’s current and future needs, and the preparedness needed to fulfill the same. The curriculum is built with extensive consultations with grassroots leaders, domain experts, and senior academicians. Elaborated curriculum is also available on the fellowship homepage.

The applications are being accepted and processed on a rolling basis. So, the earlier you apply, greater are the chances to get selected. The deadline for the second phase of applications is May 15 ,2025.

The entire fellowship program is designed in a way to empower the fellows to take up complex challenges, and build solutions for them in their journey of serving our nation.

In the fellowship journey, the fellows would getting trained for hundreds of hours, would interact with 80+ senior leaders from 30+ organizations, and gain meaningful hands-on skills. With the extensive curriculum, enriching grassroots experiences, and expert mentorship, the fellows will be ready to join organisations for social change or this journey would empower them enough to take initiative on their own.

With the fellowship, we aim to build a community of young, bright minds who share a common vision for the nation and the world. The commitment to support the fellows goes much beyond the 2 years, and expands to the entire impact journey of the fellows. We understand this is a lifetime of togetherness in the mission of nation building, beginning with 2 years of the fellowship.

Yes. The entire fellowship program is structured to maximize learning for the fellows. Here are some key elements:

• BeAndMake Camp: We begin the program with a 2-week residential camp to provide a landscape view of the social sector, train them on key skills needed, and build perspective on development and grassroots change.
• Grassroots Work: Each fellow would have a dedicated project to serve a community. This can be in any domain of development, like education, health, livelihoods etc, based on the available projects and interests of the fellow.
• Immersive Programs: Once in every quarter, the fellows would join an immersive program with a senior social leaders, academicians and facilitators to deepen their understanding of society, nation and the world.
• Digital Sessions: Every month, the fellows would have 5-6 sessions in the form of courses, peer activities, mentor sessions, and reflective exercises.

The fellowship isn’t about the physical time commitment to the program, but being mentally available to go through a transformative journey of building self-awareness, exploring purposiveness and deepening passion towards serving our nation.

It would be ideal to apply for the fellowship, if you are 100% available for the transformative journey called Sewa Fellowship.

The essays are your opportunity to tell us about yourself and your interest in Sewa Fellowship. As they are extended answers with an upper word limit of 600 words and 300 words, you will be able to use them as an opportunity to demonstrate to us in detail your journey, and why you are a strong candidate for the Fellowship. Therefore, spend time developing your understanding of fellowship.

We are sure our system is completely compatible with email services such as Gmail and Yahoo. However, there are certain email services which are highly restrictive. Hence, it could be the case that the email we sent did not get delivered to you. Also, please check your Spam/Junk folder to ensure the email has not gotten delivered there. If you have still not received the email, please email fellowship@sewinternationl.org and we will get back to you within 48 hours.

Each fellow would be assigned a community, and a project to work for the first year of the fellowship. These projects would be part of the partner organizations work in the area, and would vary from health, education, livelihoods, social businesses, tribal development etc. A tentative list of projects is mentioned on the fellowship homepage.

We are working with some of the leading non-profits of India, to build the fellowship, and to act as the host organization for the fellows. This is a wide list of 50+ organizations, from 22+ states of India, who have served for years and decades on the ground.

The selection of the host organizations has been based on four factors: service mindset in the organizational culture, appetite for social impact, availability of mentor, depth of ground work, and geographic/project diversity. We would be able to share the list of organizations in the second round of the fellowship.