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The selection process for Rainer Arnhold Fellows
Rainer Arnhold Fellows are actively recruited. We accept candidates from a select group of nominators and we research various sources to find additional promising individuals. After an initial interview and follow-up conversation, those for whom the Program is a good mutual fit are offered a Fellowship. Every attempt is made to ensure that each two-year cohort represents a good mix of disciplines and backgrounds. At this point, the Program does not accept unsolicited applications; however we do respond to inquiries.
Ideas we’re looking for
Areas of special interest for the Rainer Arnhold Fellows Program
Our emphasis is on promising ideas about change in the rural Third World—in the kinds of places that surround areas important to conservation. We look for the ideas that in aggregate promise a thriving future in these settings. More specifically, the search is for broadly adaptable, systematic models with great potential for success, sustainability, and scalability: lasting change that goes to scale.
Health
- Effective distribution of simple key health technologies (effective = both distribution and use for change)
- Private sector health care for the poor (including franchise models)
- Sustainable referral hospitals for the poor
- Leveraging of government primary health care systems for improved equity, access and services
- Community public health mobilization
Economic development
- Rural job/business/wealth creation). This is far and away the overwhelming priority.
- Credit and savings models for the poor
- Rural supply chain development
- Rural market development
Education
- Leveraging government school systems
- Private sector schools for the poor
- Community-based and supported schools
- Adult literacy and vocational education for the poor
Agriculture/Nutrition
- Systematic food security strategies
- Alternative crops/products
- Community-level food banking
- Increased yields (effective agriculture extension and distribution of inputs)
- Family and community nutrition strategies using local resources
Infrastructure
- Community water systems
- Sustainable transport systems
- Appropriate communication mechanisms
- Renewable energy
Conservation
- Sustainable conservative incentive models
- Systematic approaches to green businesses
- Community mobilization around ecosystem services
- Protecting their own
- Benefiting from protection of downstream services
- Community roles in and benefits from parks/protected areas
Overarching
- Sustainable community decision and action models to apply new technologies, accomplish effective planning, manage common resources—community development that works
- Models for the development and distribution of key cheap and effective appropriate technologies, including:
- Housing
- Farming
- Natural resource management
- Transport
Criteria for the selection of Fellows
We seek social entrepreneurs who are in a position to develop, apply, or take to scale a promising and important idea about change in the rural Third World.
Those criteria marked with an asterisk should be considered essential to a successful Fellowship; the remaining criteria can add considerably to a candidate’s relative strength, but are not essential.
The person
- Entrepreneurship*
- Demonstrated commitment to the work*
- Aptitude for and interest in RAFP design tools*
- Leadership qualities
- Present influence
- Personal characteristics/potential for influence*
- Candidate’s potential for future role in the Program as:
- Senior staff
- Mentor for “secondary Fellows”
- Interest in integration of health, development, and conservation
The idea
- The overall importance of the proposed change*
- The quality of the idea—its potential to create change at scale*
- Potential for multi-sectoral application
The institution
- Importance/influence in its field
- Commitment to facilitate full participation*
- Potential/appropriateness as a platform for change*
- The candidate’s authority to implement resulting design within the institution*
The place
- A specific place for application
- The intrinsic importance of that place
- Potential synergy with other Mulago Foundation or RAFP projects
In most cases, Fellows should have a specific place for the field application of the idea; however, in some cases, their ideas are still in an earlier stage of development and site selection is not yet appropriate.
Overall, personal criteria will take precedence, simply because these are less malleable than those pertaining to institution, place, or even idea; although institutional commitment is essential, one can leave or start institutions, and an initial choice of site for application can be changed when necessary. While the nature of the idea is a cardinal factor in selection, it is possible in selected case to modify a less promising idea early in the fellowship.
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