State Bank of India Foundation announces 11th Youth for India Fellowship Program
The unique 13-month-long Fellowship provides an active framework for the urban youth to come up with sustainable development solutions for rural development.
The SBI Youth for India Fellows work on diverse projects in 12 broad thematic areas.
March 22, 2023, New Delhi : SBI Foundation, the CSR arm of State Bank Group, is inviting applications for the 11th edition of the Youth for India Fellowship program. The fellowship provides a framework for educated urban youth – professionals or fresh graduates – to join hands and foster change with rural communities and NGOs at the grassroots across 17 Indian states.
The applicants for this 13-month fellowship must be Indian Citizens, Overseas Citizens of India, or Citizens of Bhutan and Nepal, willing to adjust and adapt to rural life and work towards sustainable rural development go als.
The SBI Youth for India Fellowship, which is one of its kind, works on 12 thematic areas such as Health, Rural Li velihood, Food Security, Environmental Protection, Education, Water, Technology, Women’s Empowerment, Se lf-Governance, Social Entrepreneurship, Traditional Craft and Alternate Energy. During the Fellowship program, the Fellows work on one of these 12 areas as per their interest.
“The SBI Youth for India program aims to fill the gap that exists between urban youth’s aspiration to contribute to the development sector and experience rural reality, as also supplement the lack of qualified human resour ce s with diverse educational and professional backgrounds in the NGOs working at the grassroots level. The 13-m onth long Fellowship provides an active framework for the Youth to come up with sustainable development solu tions for rural development and capacity building in multiple ways,” said Mr Sanjay Prakash, Managing Director & CEO, SBI Foundation. 
Over the last 10 years, Youth for India has seen active participation from hundreds of Indian youth. This also in cluded Overseas Citizens of India (O CIs) in addition to applicants from metropolitan cities of India. In ter m s of capacity building, the Program has impacted over 1,00,000 benef iciaries through the Fellows’ interventions ra nging across the 12 differe nt thematic areas. These interventions were carried out in 200+ Villages across 20 States in India.
The project has a lasting impact on the country’s development sector ecosystem. 34 Fellowship alumni have eith er founded or initiated a program, enterprise or non-profit. Among some notable alumni is Siddharth Daga, Co-founder of NeoMotion, that customises Tech-Enabled Wheelchairs, who appeared on SharkTank this season. An other former Fellow is Shriti Pandey, who founded ‘Strawcture’ in 2018 and was covered in Forbes 30 under 30 in the 2021 edition for her use of technology that helps reduce pollution by compressing crop waste into agri-fib re panels for industrial and commercial builds.
The project also impacts youth in their future academic pursuits. 100+ Fellowship alumni pursue Higher Studies in development domains after their SBI Youth for India Fellowship experience, and about 70% go on to pursue m eaningful careers in the social sector by working in Rural Development, Public Policy/Governance, Academia, et c., thereby enabling positive change lasting. Among them is Naman Bansal (2015-16 Batch), who went on to purs ue a Master of Education (M.Ed.) from Harvard University, USA, and Himanshu Pandey (2016-17), currently emp loyed with NITI Aayog & Consults in Capacity Building Commission, Government of India.
The aspirants for the Fellowship can apply using the link https://you4.in/pr.
ABOUT YOUTH FOR INDIA
Inspired by US ‘PeaceCorps’, SBI Youth for India Fellowship is SBI Foundation’s uniquely designed 13-month Fell owship program that came into inception in the year 2011. The Fellowship provides a framework for talented yo uth to join hands with rural communities, empathise with their struggles, and connect with their aspirations.
