Application Deadline: December 10th 2021
The Acumen Fellows Program was born in 2007 in New York to empower leaders around the world who had the determination, imagination, and perseverance to dream of a better world and make it happen. In 2020, the program arrived in Spain thanks to Open Value Foundation, betting on leaders who come from different sectors, communities and beliefs.
Every year, around 20 extraordinary people come together for a few months to live a transformative experience in which they are provided with practical tools to positively influence their communities and sectors.
Today, Acumen Fellows are part of a global community in which there are more than 900 social innovators in different countries of the world. Altogether, it is estimated that through the different initiatives led by each of the Fellows, more than eight million people are benefiting.
Year 1
- Join a diverse cohort of ~20 social change leaders in a rigorous year-long experience
- Improve your capacity to innovate and drive change with a mix of in-person and online seminars
- Drive initiatives focused on fighting poverty
- Part-time — you stay in your job with program costs covered by Open Value Foundation
- Three immersive seminars—5 days each in different locations of Spain (if the health situation allows)
- Two online seminars—5 weeks each, ~8 hours per week. Includes individual assignments.
- Actionable learning that is immediately applied to your work.
- Peer coaching that challenges and accompanies you in your practice.
Beyond Year 1
- Be a part of a lifelong fellowship that extends beyond your first year
- Join a larger local and global community committed to a world beyond poverty and injustice
- Have the opportunity to access certain services to help you with your personal and professional development
Spain’s Fellows Program will unleash social innovators of diverse backgrounds that are working on creating systemic and sustainable change of our country. The momentum of change is growing and it is a perfect time to create a community of leaders where there is a sense of belonging in their individual endeavor of creating long lasting impact.
Requirements
- Entrepreneurs: Leaders of both for-profit and nonprofit organizations providing critical goods or services to the underserved.
- Intrapreneurs: Leaders who are bringing to life new initiatives or approaches within the organization. The focus is on designing, testing, incubating and implementing ideas that enable the organization to pursue its purpose.
- Organizational Builders: Leaders who play an integral role in building the organization. The focus is on building the internal blocks, systems & processes that enable the organization to pursue its purpose.
In the Fellowship Program You Will:
- Learn to catalyse and embrace the gradual and meaningful process of creating change at the personal, organisational, and societal levels
- Cultivate the ability to lead effectively when opposing but interdependent values are in tension
- Understand how to lead diverse stakeholders through recurring and complex challenges
- Develop the capacity to tell meaningful stories that speak across lines of difference and move others to action
- Examine your identities, values, and choices that have shaped your journey till now and cultivate a deeper understanding of yourself and your work in a broader context
- Explore the meaning of a just society and the moral and historical foundation of social change through text-based dialogue
- Navigate systemic problems and design more effective interventions using moral imagination
- Question your assumptions and beliefs about leading effective change
- Be supported and accompanied by a cohort of like-minded peers persevering in the process of driving social change
Our curriculum draws on powerful leadership frameworks, tools, and approaches, including Adaptive Leadership, Authentic Voice, Good Society Readings, Immunity to Change, and Polarities Management.
Application Process
Our application process consists of these five steps.
- 1Step 1: Apply online — the application process opens on November 3rd and closes on December 10th
- 2Step 2: Selection Process: The selection process will be taking place between November 2021 – February 2022
- 3Step 3: Attend our Selection Conference 5th of March
- 4Step 4: Our Fellows are selected at the end of March 2022
- 5Step 5: Fellows are announced in early April 2022
Official Website: Acumen Spain Fellowship 2022
