[TC-I Call to Action]: Grassroutes Fellowship Program

Maybe it’s time to unleash the Che Guevara in you! 

The Grassroutes Fellowship Program encourages youth to embark on road-trips, interact with change-makers at the grassroots and understand first-hand the problems that plague our nation.The Program sponsors 6 teams of adventurous, passionate young people every year on such 10 day road-trips. Applications are due November 15, 2008 for the winter edition of the fellowship.

During the Program, the Fellows will have to:

• Research and understand the on-ground reality – the problem at hand, the non-profits, the change-makers and their actions, the role of the community and the local government.
• Play the role of social journalists and capture the stories of all the people involved in community development
• Lend a helping hand to the change-makers during the 10 days in their own little ways.
• On their return, Grasssroutes will help the fellows produce quality videos of their travelogues and bring to fore the amazing work being carried out by change-makers at the grassroots. Such media will be hosted on the Grassroutes portal and the fellows will work towards inspiring the larger Indian society to contribute to the work of these non-profits and similar activities in other places

Grassroutes is run by non-profit society called Yofa (for Youth Factor) that provides a banner for people to run novel projects to engage youth into social action. Yofa and Grassroutes were founded by a team of BITS Pilani alumni in early 20’s.