Sprout e-course – Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation

Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation

The Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation is an international fellowship program that supports the most promising social change projects created by TakingITGlobal's network of youth leaders. Beginning this fall, the Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation will recognize and support youth-developed projects created as a component of TakingITGlobal's innovative Sprout E-course curriculum, designed to give young leaders (aged 16-30) worldwide access to training in essential skills, including team building, project management, communications, and the ability to leverage technology as they imagine, plan, and develop social innovation projects.

NEWS! The 2012 Call for Applications is now open. Visit: http://www.tigurl.org/fellowapply to download application and recommendation forms.

Program Overview

The Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation will be awarded to young people with the most promising and well-prepared plans for community projects developed during the Sprout E-course. For our 2012 Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation cycle, we will be selecting 20 Fellows to receive a seed grant of $1,000 USD each.

The program offers:

• Tools and resources in attracting funding and developing sustainable initiatives.
• Expertise and consulting on stakeholder engagement, business model development and evaluation.
• Networks and peer-learning support with like-minded social innovators from all over the world.
• Coaching from experienced program staff to aid Fellows in project launch and/or growth.
• Profiling through TakingITGlobal, Pearson Foundation, partner websites and press coverage.
   

Eligibility Criteria

You are eligible to apply for the Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation if you are:

• Able to commit no less than 8 hours per month over 4 months to Pearson Fellowship acitivites and deliverables.
• Passionate about creating positive change in your community
• An individual between the ages of 16 and 30 as of January 1, 2012
• A Sprout Alumni having successfully completed a Sprout E-course between Spring 2008 up to and including Fall 2011, having been given a certificate of completion
• Fluent in spoken and written English
• Able to access regular and reliable broadband internet
• A good online communicator
• A member of TakingITGlobal

In order to apply for the Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation, you must submit:

• Completed Application Form
• Completed Character Recommendation Form by someone who can attest to your abilities and interest in the areas to be addressed in the Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation Program (leadership, collaboration, social entrepreneurship, project management)
• 1-2 page resume/curriculum vitae
• Completed Employer Recommendation Form by someone who can attest to your work ethic and commitment

Please note: incomplete applications will not be considered.
 

Application

The 2012 Call for Pearson Fellowship Applications begins Thursday, January 5, 2012 to Friday, March 30, 2012. Visit: http://www.tigurl.org/fellowapply to download application and recommendation forms.

How to Be a Successful Applicant

It’s not a secret that we are looking for the best and brightest among the Sprout Community to become part of our Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation. We want you to know what we are looking for. Here’s how to be a successful applicant and land yourself a Fellowship.

The selection of 20 Fellows depends on the criteria below. Do you have what it takes to be a Pearson Fellow?

Pearson Fellows are:

• Ethical and committed to upholding their values and personal integrity;
• Guided by their social conscience and sense of personal responsibility;
• Self-directed, persistent and entrepreneurial;
• Self-aware and willing to learn as much through failure as success;
• Able to articulate the root causes of the issues facing their communities;
• Creative problem-solvers with new ideas to solve age-old challenges;
• Able to demonstrate their project meets an unmet need;
• Persuasive and can present a legitimate case for the validity of their solution;
• Exemplary performers with a track record of meeting deadlines and deliverables as demonstrated through their participation in the Sprout E-course;
• Able to plan, develop, and execute their projects;
• Uniquely positioned to create change in their communities;
• Dedicated to executing projects that are financially viable and sustainable;
• Able to gauge the impact of their projects and be accountable to stakeholders.

Inaugural Pearson Fellows 2011

In January 2011, 12 young social innovators and numerous leading experts in entrepreneurship, social innovation and philanthropy came together in an online community to work relentlessly toward launching change-initiatives that take root in their communities.Through four months of peer learning, pitch training, business consulting, marketing tools and mentoring, 12 Pearson Fellows transformed the projects developed in the Sprout E-course from the planning stage to reality.

Valens Ntamushobora (Let Us Stay Alive)

Pankaj Shanker Jethwani (Maid in India)

Ujala Shanker (Stitches)

Sarah Khalid (Young Suburban Growers Program)

Fai Cedric Yengo (Leaders of Tomorrow International)

Tahirah Stanley (Theatre for Peace)

Ronald Mukanya (Peer Support Training)

Edna Akullq (Self Help Foundation)

Philip Bundi Kabiru (Togetherness)

Niwa Rahmad Dwitama (Students for Tomorrow)

Natasha Sahijwala (Green Machine)

Richard Seshie (Ubuntuu)