The Community Impact Fellowship 2020 is a collaborative project between the UNCTAD Youth Action Hub Pakistan and Green Box that offers a 3-month fellowship opportunity for tertiary level students across Pakistan. Students receive 30 credit hours of training on sustainability leadership skills and peer mentorship, and also co-develop innovative community-focused capstone projects focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

The fellowship builds on the model of Green Box’s flagship Sustainable Impact Partner Program which offers post-secondary students in Pakistan approximately 100 credit hours of simulation-based training in sustainability and leadership. Since its launch in 2018, 100 students have been involved in this program. Community projects in the 2018 pilot cohort included developing low-cost methods for assessing local water contamination, producing eco-friendly office stationery using community waste, and crowdsourcing real-time data on local environmental impacts and holding policymakers accountable for their actions.

Through the Community Impact Fellowship, Green Box, in partnership with UNCTAD Youth Action Hub, aims to build an exclusive cohort of 20 young sustainability leaders focusing on vulnerable communities in Karachi and Lahore in the first cycle of the fellowship. The fellowship aims to focus on sensitizing members of the Youth Action Hub on sustainable development paradigm in Pakistan (SDG 4.7) and facilitate the application of sustainability leadership skills gained during the period of fellowship in real, local community settings.   

How does the fellowship look like?

Application Process and Recruitment Process

Eligibility Criteria

All Fellows must be dedicated young people with at least some voluntary or professional experience working in the nonprofit sector and have completed at least matriculation degree or equivalent. Fellows are also required to be able to speak, write, and communicate effectively in English and Urdu. Fellows must be between the ages of 16 and 30 on the first day of the Fellowship. Fellows must be based or residents of Lahore or Karachi during the fellowship. Upon admission into the fellowship, all fellows will become members of the Youth Action Hub Pakistan Community.  Please note future fellowship cycles will be open to other cities and towns across Pakistan.

Equality of opportunity through the incorporation of a gender inclusive approach

The project would promote the normalization of gender equality in terms of opportunities available in our society, as approximately 60 percent of the fellows would be females.

Fellowship Agreement

Fellows are expected to commit at least 2 hours per week (and sometimes more) and could have approximately 1-2 hours of study and/or participation. Fellows are expected to participate in monthly online discussion board conversations between Fellows and virtual training. Fellows are also expected to participate fully in all required activities and projects of the Fellowship.

Capstone Projects

20 fellows will be encouraged to develop individual or group-based community projects in collaboration with other fellows in the batch. Themes and sub-themes for the Fellowship Cycle 1 are as follows:

Target Population Groups for Project Design

Risk Assessment of Capstone Projects

Green Box and Youth Action Hub Pakistan is committed to creating a safe civic engagement experience for all fellows so all capstone projects will need to adhere to the youth safe space agreement and pose low risk to project team and beneficiaries as per the fellowship COVID-19 project readiness guidelines.

How to apply?

If you are between the age of 16 and 30 and have interest in sustainable development of Pakistan, here is your chance to join first batch of 20 Community Impact Fellows. The application process is as follows:

• Online application form available between August 8th and August 18th, 2020. Complete the form by August 18th
• Applications review and shortlisting by August 22nd
• Panel interviews of shortlisted candidates between August 23rd and August 30th
• List of successful candidates announced by August 31st
• Fellowship will commence on September 1st, 2020

Apply here by August 18th 2020: https://forms.gle/EeSj2DVxL83J2EndA

Application Form Guidance:

The Application Form will take about 20 minutes to complete and will include 3 short essay questions (200 words each):

We would like to know more about you. Describe yourself to us. What makes you unique? What are your achievements, strengths and top skills?

Why do you wish to take part in the Community Impact Fellowship? What do you expect to learn from it and how do you think you can contribute to it?

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan, which members of the community do you think have been affected the most? Briefly describe one idea which you feel can be implemented to support these groups.

BEST OF LUCK!