Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) is glad to announce the launch of Digital Fellowship 1.0. Starting July 2017, DEF will offer a six-month-long Fellowship to 12 individuals who realise and understand the potential of digital tools and technology in bringing about a change in grassroots communities.

Digital Fellowship 1.0 offers personal and professional development to youth who want to work for positive social, cultural, behavioural and economic changes in the field of development — particularly ICT4D — in an effort to bridge the digital divide in India by providing individuals and communities with knowledge of computers and access to the Internet to empower them with access to information in a timely and relevant manner.

Since 2002, DEF has been working tireless to connect unreached and underserved communities of India in an effort to bring them out of digital darkness and empower them with information access through last mile connectivity, digital literacy and digital interventions. With the motto to ‘Inform, Communicate and Empower,’ DEF aims to find sustainable ICT solutions to overcome information poverty in remote and rural locations of India. If you believe in the same, Digital Fellowship is for you.

Digital Fellowship builds and strengthens individual leadership through group-centric methods such as ideation, project execution, collaboration, feedback and reflection.

Fellows will get a chance to work across a wide range of spectrum, through a multidisciplinary approach, on ground to offer their understanding and solutions to reduce the digital divide and adoption of digital tools. At the same time, the Fellows will get to learn from each other and the facilitators through hands-on project execution, practical exercises, rich interactions, design thinking, interventions, policy building, research, advocacy and meetings.

DEF, therefore, welcomes young minds to engage with it to share their love, passion, dedication, compassion, honesty, skills and time to digitally empower the rural, remote, underserved and marginalised communities of India.

PROJECTS UNDER DIGITAL FELLOWSHIP 1.0

The 26-week Fellowship will involve engagement, both at the ground and DEF’s head office in New Delhi, in one of the areas of the Fellow’s choice. Under each area of work, the Fellow will be involved in research & documentation, ideation & execution of existing or new projects, project management & coordination, Web visibility & social media updates about their activities, interactions & engagement with local communities.

  • Area of Work: Digital Fellowship (Heritage)
    Fellows needed: Two
    Brief: Fellows under Heritage will be engaged in digitally preserving and promoting history, heritage, culture, tradition and art through the involvement of the local communities. Fellows will explore heritage sites and traditional clusters to document them and present the results in a visually appealing format.
  • Area of Work: Digital Fellowship (Media & Research)
    Fellows needed: Three
    Brief: Fellows under Media & Research will look after communication and research needs of the organisation, strategise its Web presence, plan offline and online campaigns, suggest fundraising activities, design content for print and Web collaterals.
  • Area of Work: Digital Fellowship (Handloom)
    Fellows needed: Three
    Brief: Fellows under Handloom will be required to live with weavers in handloom cluster of India to understand their ecosystem and contribute towards the enhancement of the cluster and the livelihood of its members.
  • Area of Work: Digital Fellowship (Graphic Design)
    Fellow needed: One
    Brief: Fellow under Graphic Design will look after visual communication needs of the organisation, and be required to design posters, pamphlets, brochures, books and other collateral.
  • Area of Work: Digital Fellowship (Rural Development)
    Fellows needed: Two
    Brief: Fellows under Rural Development will be required to mobilise rural communities to adopt digital tools, enable access to information & government schemes, engage communities in digital literacy, document case stories and plan project reports.
  • Area of Work: Digital Fellowship (Digital Archive)
    Fellow needed: One
    Brief: Fellow under Digital Archiving will help DEF maintain a repository of images, videos, publications, rural art & craft, folk music and culture.

WHO CAN APPLY?

The application is open for individuals between the age of 20 and 26 years from India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan. The applicant must have an undergraduate degree and should be passionate about actively working for social change through access to digital tools and technology. Applicants must have a proficient command of both written and spoken English, and knowledge of any other language will be seen as an add-on. Indian applicants should be able to understand and speak in Hindi.

WHAT WILL BE THE REMUNERATIONS?

Selected Fellows will be given a monthly stipend of upto Rs. 25,000. Any travel expenses made towards project execution or on-ground visits will be taken care of by DEF. Please note, DEF will not bear the cost of the Fellows’ travel to New Delhi/India from their native places; neither will it provide for accommodation during the 26-week Fellowship.

HOW TO APPLY?

The application process is now closed. Applications will only be accepted until the midnight of June 10, following which DEF will start the evaluation process. Please note, shortlisted candidates will be called for a personal interview. Those residing outside Delhi-NCR, will be called for a telephonic interview.