- Demonstrated Capacities and Commitment: The program supports individuals or teams who have already demonstrated certain capacities as well as shown serious commitment to the social/education sector through their past engagements (usually, through at least 2-3 years of full-time engagement with education or allied developmental issues)
- Clear Organizational Objectives: The program aims to facilitate the development of stable educational CSOs who can create long-term engagements on school education, and thus have clear ‘organization building’ expectations from individuals and teams we support.
- Engagement with Class/School Issues: While issues outside schools/classrooms (such as those related to community, nutrition/health, etc.) are decidedly important for effective education, to create effective educational NGOs that can have a systemic impact, the founding team must be willing and able to engage directly with the children and teachers and ‘within-class/school’ issues (such as curricular and pedagogic)
- Focused Approach: Education requires some degree of specialized knowledge, and effective educational NGOs are often willing to go deeper in a few educational domains/disciplines (as opposed to being generalists who attempt to address all educational issues or simply play the role only of mediators (for e.g., by providing readymade content available to a set of schools)
- Supportive Teams: If organizations have to develop and sustain over the long run, it is important to have teams of partners/co-owners who have the allied sensibilities and interests (which geography to work in, which educational domains to focus on, which demographics to cater to, etc.); and are also able to provide constructive feedback to each other and complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Nature of Support:
- Number of Fellowship per Organization: A maximum of 3 Founders per organization will be supported through the Seeding Fellowship at a time. In cases where multiple fellowships are requested for the same organization/initiative, the start date of all the fellowships cannot be staggered for over a year. This is to encourage Fellows to form strong teams as soon as possible and also ensure that the founders have at least 2 years of overlap within the Seeding Program.
- Quantum, Mode, and Duration of Financial Support: The financial support would be provided for up to 3 years from the date of signing the MoU and would amount to approximately Rs 3.6 lakhs/year, paid in the form of quarterly stipends.
- Conditions for Continued Support: The continued support with stipend would be subject to adherence to the clauses of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Fellow and Wipro and satisfactory progress on the plans submitted during the selection stage (including an organizational development plan); as determined by periodic reviews and discussions; and a detailed annual review. Depending on the outcome of these reviews, we may further extend the support to the seeded-organizations, after the 3-year term is over, on a case-to-case basis.
