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In a time of explosive growth in science and technology, we know a lot more about how to generate tools and information than we do about how to apply them to create lasting change for the better. In health, development, and conservation, the challenges are enormous, while the resources available to accomplish change remain limited. Too many projects fail to produce significant change and of those that do, few manage to expand from local to widespread effect.
Good ideas and tools are necessary but not sufficient -- to have real impact you need people who know how to use them to create change in the real world. The Rainer Arnhold Fellows Program works to produce people who know how to take a good idea through a process that will make a real difference in the lives of those looking for a better life.
Rainer Arnhold Fellows learn how to design projects to create lasting change that will go to scale. They use a systematic approach to design that synthesizes the lesson of many successful projects to create unique solutions for diverse settings. Each Fellow applies this approach to develop a specific idea into a project that can create change and take it to scale.
The Fellowship is part-time, integrated into the Fellow's current program of work or study, and structured around his or her specific field project. It requires several weeks of exclusive participation annually, but most of the time is spent applying new tools and ideas in the field.
Fellows are drawn from three broad disciplines: health, conservation, and socioeconomic development. This mix answers to the need for integrated solutions, provides each fellow with a necessary understanding of these inter-related disciplines, and creates cross-fertilization within the program.
Each Fellow works to develop and apply a specific idea about change. Some of the ideas Fellows currently work on include:
- A conservation agreements process to ensure lasting benefits for local communities in Indonesia
- The non-destructive use of biodiversity to generate income in Costa Rica
- Community management of government health centers in Peru
- A business model to greatly increase profits for poor farmers in Kenya
- Community-controlled outsourcing of healthcare services in Bolivia
The Fellows program focuses on settings of greatest need -- typically, but not exclusively, in the Third World. While some are still in training, the majority of the Fellows are already working in the field. The ideal candidate for a Fellowship:
- Is entrepreneurial by nature and passionate about the work
- Has a specific idea about change in health, development or conservation
- Has a demonstrated commitment to work in the settings of greatest need
- Understands the Fellowship curriculum and has a specific agenda for it.
The two-year program allows Fellows the chance to refine a specific project
while learning a defined set of skills. The Fellowship experience is
integrated into the work or study program and is structured around a specific
community-based field project. This mix of theoretical, technical, and
practical learning is built into the Fellows Program structure, the
components of which include:
- A site-based field project -- the Fellow's own project -- an ongoing, supervised opportunity to apply the Fellowship theory and methods
- Sequential advised reiteration -- three times a year, each Fellow works through a reiteration of project design with an advisor, based on the learning and experience of the interim four months
- A structured learning experience on-site (optional) -- a multi-week visit to an established, successful project that exemplifies a systematic approach to change.
- Structured networking -- specific site visits and contacts germane to project and program.
- A structured case report -- written at the end of the Fellowship.
Through the submitted iterations, the Program explicitly tracks and documents the evolution of projects. In addition, the Program tracks the concrete outcomes of each Fellow's project. These two elements together allow the Program to measure of its own effectiveness.
The Program pays all expenses related to participation, along with a small fieldwork grant and a stipend for the time needed to write up a concise case study. The Fellows' home institutions must each make a commitment to allow full participation in the various Fellowship activities.
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