Idea

“Become the change that you want to see in the world,” said Gandhi. He didn’t just say it, he did it. When Gandhi was teaching against caste discrimination, he was leading from the front with a broom in his hand. He was cleaning his own toilet. When he gave the call to boycott the British goods, he shifted to the homespun khadi and never left it.

By setting an example, by becoming what he was preaching, Gandhi forced people to change. Gandhi Fellowship believes that’s the only way we can change the world around us: by changing ourselves.

The Gandhi Fellowship takes this basic ethic to the field of education. We believe educational courses offered by colleges and universities are only churning out the managerial cadre. We feel that India needs a new brand of constructive youth leadership, a pool of social change leaders, who can think beyond existing paradigms.

To achieve this objective, Gandhi Fellowship is sending the select graduates and postgraduates from the elite institutes across the country back to schools. They take charge of some ailing government schools; they interact with headmasters to inspire them to become leaders rather than mere administrators; they teach children from varied social milieus; they talk to local communities; they go and stay in slums; they see, and experience, first-hand, the grassroots reality. And during this intense two-year journey, they also rediscover their own dreams.

In a nutshell, the Fellowship is a nursery that raises youngsters’ aspirations; that motivates them to think bigger, larger, and inspires them to become the change they want to see in the world. 

The Context

In the last sixty years of India’s Independence there has been a significant shift in the way the educated middle-class youth sees its relationship with his/her immediate society and nation. Even as the patriotic rhetoric has got louder and sharper the involvement of the middle-class youth in public life has diminished.  The belief of ‘Me, myself and I’ has entrenched itself within the middle-class psyche.  To engage with issues of society, the government system and politics is largely dismissed as idealistic, even foolish!  The middle-class in India has become the consumerist class, which in spite of its education and access to the most evolved communication and knowledge systems, is increasingly isolating itself from any form of public engagement.  This is in complete contrast to the time when India achieved Independence, when the middle-class youth was at the forefront of the sweeping changes that occurred in the first phase of nation-building.

Yet, there is a palpable sense of discontent among the youth today. Many among them have the need and desire to go beyond the ‘consumerist’ pattern of living and working to contribute, find meaning, and cause change in the world around them. An increasing number of young people are asking themselves the tough question, “How can I use my energies and skills so that my work can make things better for others?”  But there has been no systematic programme that can channelise this drive and energy. Threre's no educational or training programme, which can harness this energy, and direct it to make an impact on the world around us.

The Need

Gandhi said, “There are enough resources in the world for man’s needs but not enough for man’s greed.” Mankind today has ample resources to support and take care of the needs of entire humanity, but the distribution of these resources is skewed. To amend and change this requires a different human mind and a different ethic. We need to create new social, political and economic systems to make societies equal and just. The frontier to be reached and crossed is as much the inner self of human beings as it is ‘re-jigging’ the world around.

Education system has been unable to address this issue effectively. There is a need to create a new curriculum and approach. Conventional courses in social and rural development either emphasise on engaging with people or in managing development programmes. The need now is to create a leadership programme that trains young professionals. We need professionals, who have the ability to attract resources to create systemic change.

It is impossible to do this through individual genius only. It requires leaders, who work in collaboration, by building networks, and leveraging on each others’ strengths and knowledge.

The Gandhi Fellowship Programme has emerged out of this context to create the next generation change leaders, who embody and practice leadership skills that are needed in the 21st century.

Guiding Principles

Self -awareness, Collaboration, Excellence. These are the three non-negotiable guiding principles of the fellowship. Let’s look at them more elaborately.

Self-awareness

We have been fighting a losing battle by making every effort to change things outside our selves.  The idea of social reform ingrained in our minds is built on a bias that ‘something is wrong’ with the world out there and “I have to find a way of changing it". This is a limiting attitude. The only thing that one can control is the self.

An individual, who understands this, who knows his limitations, strengths and weaknesses, can function in harmony with people around him. But this can only be achieved by going through the ‘grind’ of self awareness.

Collaboration

Social change is not possible through only individual genius. The idea of the genius scientist working ceaselessly in the laboratory, or the idea that one ‘charismatic’ leader can change and transform the world, is a myth. Anything of true value is achieved not simply through enthusiasm and sacrifice. It is built by people with different strengths and skills working together over long periods of time. For example, NASA was able to put the first human being on the moon because of the efforts of thousands of individuals who had developed skills in different areas. They then collaborated over a vision for over 20-30 years to achieve it.

Excellence

To go beyond enthusiasm, good intentions, adherence to some ‘right’ ideology and develop the habit of doing the best one is capable of in every aspect of life. The first step towards excellence is expertise, which is acquired through constant practice. To work at something continuously, clocking those 10,000-hours of practice, beyond which lies excellence. This is very important particularly in the world of social change where good intentions have been deified more often than real impact.