Welcome.

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 We are looking for young learners (preferably between 21 - 30 years of age ) who are committed followers and leaders, guided by virtues, values and a meaningful life that nurtures an inclusive and compassionate common good. We encourage such followers/leaders to apply for this learning and fellowship journey.

 

Please note that the fellowship offers no financial support from the main institutions. Or, the collaborators' community. The fellowship aims to bring together Gandhi-Mandela-Freire Fellows as an eco-socio-spiritual moral community.

 

Please also note that this course is not directly positioned to benefit you with a job opportunity. It is also not directly meant to improve your career. The course/learning journey will benefit you as a person and your desire to contribute to self and social transformation. And caring for Nature.       

 

We like our aspirants to consider the following.

 

Openness to Change 

You must be able to exercise an openness to change that comes along with learning. With this also comes the ability to be understanding, flexible and adaptable as you encounter persons and situations who introduce you to simple and complex, normative and radical ideas and practices. This openness should also be your gateway to self and social transformation -- thinking “out of the box” or “going off the grid” or “getting off the highway”. A sensitive readiness to mindful change is critical.

 

Integrity, Honesty and Authenticity

You have to be honest to yourself, always ensuring alignment between context, thought, emotion and action. All these also call for your inherent courageous and compassionate nature to stand up for truth or for people and nature who need your help. Integrity and authenticity are critical for building trust and friendships that we so critically need to build an inclusive local and global society. (Over the months, this course also needs all these to come alive through self-directed work.)

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Other Personal Attributes

You need to be patient, practice humility, cultivate the ability to laugh at yourself, ask critical and uncomfortable questions to self and others, believe in participatory and deliberative democracy, hold virtues that value those who may have different ways of thinking and acting, be persistent, practise perseverance and a deep commitment that reaches out to not only self but also, importantly, others. (Note: While we encourage accepting people with different perspectives, we must also be on our guard to face those positions that destroy critical dialogue, human dignity and the freedom of others.)

 

Plurality, Diversity and Dialogue

You must accept with grace diversity and plurality in society. On that foundation, you must show keen interest to engage -- listen, learn, understand and contribute to your own journey as well as to that of others, with whom you may or may not agree. It is important that you also reflect upon these encounters with a sincere aim to engage in dialogue and endeavour to build an active dialogical-deliberative unity.

 

Orientation and Competences

You need the attitudes, ‘philosophical’ or ‘spiritual’ orientations to pursue this course/learning journey. Importantly to articulate, practice or disseminate your ideas, practices or imagination, you need the drive to acquire research, writing, designing and such other competencies/skills for the purpose of wholesome and informed communication, portrayal and discussions. This is also needed to encourage your learning, scholarship, involved engagement and learningful encounters with individuals, groups, and communities.

 

Willingness to Make Sense

You need the willingness to explore the external and internal interconnected complexities of the ways of self, social and Nature. You need to learn to unpack realities, examine/interrogate them and their deep interconnections. You need to also understand data, information and knowledge creation from integrated/interconnected sense and to approach them as a generalist and not merely as a specialist. We encourage the journey from knowledge to wisdom. In a sense, you need to avoid silo thinking and be cosmological. You need to accept or be comfortable with dissonance, difficulties and challenges in order to struggle to learn and to share your learning.