YOUTH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME
THE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME gives indigenous youth and leaders the support they need to get their needs heard.
TIP Youth Fellowship Programme was created with the support of The Christensen Fund (TCF). The fellowship aimed at creating a platform for intercultural knowledge exchange among the youth from indigenous communities and syncing them to global views, while sustaining their identities.
The Fellowship programme prepares the fellows through training, professional development, networking, management practices and policy options to use and safeguard agrobiodiversity.
Our fellows are young grassroots leaders. Through the fellowship program, they take part in interdisciplinary studies of their food systems, examining it from the cultural, nutritional and other perspectives. These grassroots leaders are documenting on average 200 food plants (species and varieties) per village, many of them with unknown properties and benefits. They are keen learners merging local traditions with innovations; fighting pests and exploring solutions to scale without polluting their crops; exploring solutions for increasing the fertility of their lands; adapting to climate change by making more informed food decisions instead of simply migrating.
PROJECT BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Indigenous communities’ intent and capacity to continue upholding their stewardship of precious natural resources is being challenged by, among other factors, deforestation, soil erosion, climate emergency, lack of rights and recognition, limited income generation opportunities, incentives to adopt pesticides, fertilizers and non-local seeds that may have long term consequences on their farming production and livelihood security. Any inaction will lead to loss of these unique ways of life, heritage, seeds, species, precious natural resources and knowledge of land management and sustainable consumption.
Indigenous peoples and communities are not currently able to find the allies and resources they need to advocate for their wisdom. TIP therefore builds a bridge between policy makers and community based organisations working on indigenous peoples issues. TIP has earned trust across constituencies, understands divergent points of view and has the experience and training necessary to give indigenous youth and leaders the support, alliances, sounding boards and audiences they need to get their needs heard.
CELEBRATE
diversity, inter-cultural approaches, ancestral knowledge, indigenous food traditions, value systems and the potential benefits to larger society.
CONNECT
previously disconnected change-makers, youths, and knowledge holders through meaningful co-creation and learning.
DEMONSTRATE
root problems and processes, knowledge gaps, lessons learnt, effectiveness of pilot interventions.
EMPOWER
by training, specialist skills, pilot work plans, local strategies and interventions that tackle root problems and indigenous priorities.
INFLUENCE
policy makers, influential organisations, convincing them to seek and value indigenous expertise and uphold their needs.
OUR THEORY OF CHANGE
Our theory of change enables us to leverage a small individual transformation through a Fellow and scale it into a movement for change globally, bridging that gap in communication between indigenous actors and policy makers and strengthening a sense of agency among indigenous communities.
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10 Indigenous Fellows’ personal growth into confident leaders with a renewed sense of agency, finding strength in unity and comfort in the support of lifelong expert mentors.
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33 organisations working on indigenous issues and participating in our programmes benefit by growing their knowledge, their confidence and their networks through training, dialogues and research initiatives.
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50 Indigenous Food Systems Experts, Agroecologists and Researchers give an easy access to a growing body of new grassroots evidence to fill gaps in information, complement and expand their existing research.
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12 Bi-lateral organizations and Working Groups focusing on Indigenous Food Systems that have worked with TIP to develop informed policy decisions and confidently champion the need to seek and value indigenous expertise.
Measurable real change in communities through pilots, new funding and initiatives
Lifetime access to mentors & knowledge sharing network
Growing body of new grassroots evidence to fill gaps in information and demonstrate case for change
Cohort of influenced converted policymakers and influential institutions resonating the same messages to their broader audience
With the Fellowship we seek to leverage a small individual transformation through a Fellow and scale it into a movement for change globally.
Fellows’ personal growth into confident leaders
To learn about our theory of change in a bit more detail explore our Systems Map that shows you how we intervene in the complex web of natural factors, market drivers, livelihoods and agriculture.
The map explores the question “What processes and relationships affect an indigenous peoples’ community’s ability to establish thriving and sustainable local farming livelihoods?“
The map is made up of Processes and Arrows (or key interrelationships that exist between different processes). It focuses on relationships that affect out work at The Indigenous Partnership and that we are working hard to influence.
