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India is home to the largest population of youth in the world. While they form a significant percentage of our population, their challenges are immense, particularly in the area of education and employment. Research says that only 46% of India’s youth is employable, signifying the dire need to develop technical, professional, leadership, and entrepreneurial skills in them, in order to enable them to lead fruitful lives.
On the other hand, social sector organizations and enterprises across the country are struggling to access good talent that they need in order to build capacity, grow strategically, and ultimately meet their mission and goals to achieve a larger positive social impact. In such a talent pool, a combination of professional skills, an understanding of social problems, and a passion to serve people is an ideal combination. Therefore, a unique and specialized approach is needed to develop such a talent pool.
Being a coalition of leading grassroot NGOs in Bengaluru, Mercy Mission is ideally placed to implement such a solution. The Fellowship Program is designed to leverage the diverse opportunities and deep expertise available across organsiations in the Social Sector space, complemented by an expert group of educators who are designing and implementing the program.
The Mercy Mission Fellowship Program is a 1-year-long full-time experiential learning and exposure program to the social sector space, where Fellows get to experience working with Civil Society Organizations and NGOs in the social sector space. The objective of this program is to build key skill sets of the Fellows such as Critical Thinking, Teamwork, Social & Emotional Learning, Leadership, Communication, Entrepreneurial & Professional skills, while reinforcing feelings of Empathy, Compassion & Gratitude, to inculcate a lifelong ethic of giving - the Mercy Mission way. The pilot program was launched in September 2021, and the 1st cohort of Fellows graduated in June 2022.
The Mercy Mission Fellowship program is uniquely designed by social sector practitioners and educationists, catering to the needs of the sector and engaging our youth productively.
Induction
Field Immersion
Learning Sessions from Sector Experts
Theoretical Exposure (Academic Engagement)
Research / Enquiry Based Approach
One on One Mentoring
Self Driven Projects
Team Building
Social Entrepreneurship
Placements
The Selection Process runs over a period of 1 month. It is rigorous, based on the applicant's academic and family profile, SOP (which also tests their writing skills), interests & achievements, motivation and commitment to the program, prior exposure to NGO/ volunteering, and one-on-one interviews (done by a panel of MM NGO heads).
There are 3 Levels of filtering in the selection process, which culminated in the offer:
The Online Application form captures details on Educational Qualifications, Family Background, Extracurricular & Volunteering Work, Statement of Purpose, Certifications, and more to understand why and how the candidate is a strong fit for the Mercy Mission Fellowship Program.
Based on the applications, shortlisting is done. Post this, sectoral Case Scenarios are given to the shortlisted candidates, for which the Applicant is to respond with a 1500 word essay within a given time period.
The final step in the selection process is 30 min Face-to-Face Interviews with the expert panel (comprising MM NGO heads and the Fellowship program team).
Finally, a detailed Offer Letter specifying the expectations, roles and responsibilities of the Fellows is handed over with a deadline to sign and accept the same.
The Mercy Mission Fellowship is designed for young individuals that are passionate, motivated, socially conscious, driven and display a credible level of commitment and work ethic. While Mercy Mission is not looking for the best grades, perfect resumes, or already well-developed leaders, the selection process is rigorous in order to uphold the seriousness and significance of social service and the core ethos.
The Fellowship is open to young graduates/postgraduates:
Between the ages of 20-28 years
With prior experience volunteering or working in the social sector space
Having designed or led initiative/s that created a direct impact on the ground
Willing to travel outside of Bengaluru city on projects/assignments as part of the Fellowship Program
Students from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities fulfilling the above criteria are encouraged to apply.
“MMFP was a real world experience in the Social Work Sector. I benefited greatly from the Enquiry Based Learning. The Field Immersion gave me insights into Community Mobilization and Program Designing. The network here helped learn and grow! ”
“Mercy Mission Fellowship Program was a life changing experience for me! Carrying out field based studies and working with disadvantaged communities has taught me to understand people and their emotions better.”
“This Fellowship gave me a deeper understanding of the need and functioning of grassroot NGOs. The Field Immersions helped in gaining first-hand professional experience in handling a project in the social sector field.”
“The Fellowship instilled in me a heightened sense of Empathy and Gratitude. I gained so much through peer learning and collaborative work. The Learning Sessions helped us Fellows upskill in a range of areas.”
I received an immense amount of exposure as a Mercy Mission Fellow. I was blinded to a section of society but after engaging in the Fellowship and all the Field Immersions we had, I definitely look at that part of society differently now. The mentoring support propelled the Fellows’ learnings, both professionally and personally.
“The Mercy Mission Fellows display a good understanding of problems and challenges faced by the target communities. The presentation of their work was professional and clear. It showed evidence of Research and Learning.”
The Fellows helped in scaling the number of food distribution from 2500 to 3000 as part of our Feed The Needy initiative. Their observations and analysis as part of the assigned project helped in increasing the quantity and quality of food.”
“Mercy Mission Fellows gave a fresh perspective to our ongoing initiative ‘Gift A Home.’. The enquiry based approach to the project brought about sustainable and long term solutions. Their time at The United Foundation was equally action oriented, they immersed themselves into the target community while working on their study!”
“Fellows' understanding of the inner workings of a non-profit organization has surely increased manifold. They were deeply engaging with the team, the initiative in all its aspects and the beneficiaries, going much beyond the set project outcomes.”
“The Fellows were absolutely necessary and instrumental in the SLP of the school which was the project they were assigned. They were engineering the program and sincerely stood out. The Field Immersion was an awesome experience.”
“The Mercy Mission Fellows presence at the NGO encouraged us to take out time and work additionally on some key aspects that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. The MMFP Field Immersion gave the organization a different perspective on some of its activities which was very helpful. It was a reflective journey for us at Palm trust.”
“The Mercy Mission Fellows have progressed from ‘being led’ to ‘leading’ initiatives at Scale!” “Great initiative! The Fellows have a clarity of the kind of work they have to do, and they all have a vision, which is the most wonderful thing! Keep the work going folks.”