Cultivating Inclusion for Food Security (Cultivate) Fellowship

The Application for the Asia/Pacific Region Cultivate Fellowship is Now Closed

What is the Cultivate Fellowship? 

Brought to you by the Gender and Youth Activity (GAYA), the Cultivate Fellowship is a capacity-strengthening opportunity for field-based emergency and resilience food security implementers who are interested in using qualitative methods to increase gender and youth inclusion. 

Over three months, a cohort of 16-20 members participate in both an in-person workshop, regular online meetings, and independent work to develop innovative solutions to increase gender and youth inclusion in their programs. 

The Cultivate Fellowship supports fellows to design and use qualitative methods to address their program-specific questions and deepen their contextual understanding of social inclusion and resilience dynamics of their activities, in order to adapt programming for transformative change. By the end of the Cultivate Fellowship, fellows will:

• Explore systems thinking and qualitative inquiry as tools to deepen our understanding of inclusive resilience dynamics
• Design and conduct a QI project by using the plan do use framework
• Engage with and learn from peer fellows - through this cohort and ultimately the alumni network

Who Should Apply?

Prospective applicants should apply as a pair working within the same program, ideally representing: 

• Applicant 1: Gender, youth, and/or social inclusion components or the equivalent 
• Applicant 2: Monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) and/or collaboration, learning, and adaptation (CLA) or adaptive management equivalent

The current cohort is aimed at implementers working on Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA)-funded Activities and other USAID strategic partners located in Asia and the Pacific.

What is Expected of Participants? 

• Fellows’ program/activity will fund travel costs  (e.g., travel, accommodation, per diem)  associated with attending an in-person workshop
• Fellows will engage in three months of activities, including, but not limited to, virtual preparatory meetings, a 5-day in-person workshop, biweekly virtual meetings following the workshop, informal and formal technical mentorship calls, and a virtual learning summit. 
• During the Fellowship, Fellows (with the support of GAYA) will be required to complete an inclusive resilience-focused qualitative inquiry project within their program/activity.

What Are the Key Dates? 

• Application launched March 18, 2024 and closed April 12, 2024
• Selected fellows are notified by April 26 and must confirm their participation by May 17
• The in-person workshop will be held in early July (likely July 8-12 in Bangkok, Thailand)

How Do I Apply? 

Applications for the current cohort are now closed. If you are interested in receiving updates on future cohorts, please sign up to receive our newsletter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I apply as a single applicant?

GAYA is not accepting applications from individuals at this time. 

Can I apply as a group of three, rather than as a pair?

GAYA is open to reviewing applications from three individuals on a case-by-case basis. 

Can non-BHA funded programs apply?

GAYA will consider applications from USAID-funded programs that are not BHA-funded on a case-by-case basis. Given that GAYA is a USAID/BHA funded program, we are not currently in a position to offer fellowships to programs without funding from USAID or USAID/BHA. Future cohorts may include applicants from outside the USAID-funding pool. If you are interested in receiving updates on future cohorts, please sign up to receive our newsletter.

What does completing a qualitative inquiry project look like? 

As a central part of the Cultivate Fellowship, fellows will use qualitative methods to inform program adaptations on their activity, with the end goal of creating more inclusive programs. This project includes but is not limited to: 

• Engagement with program leadership and technical leads to identify a challenge and associated learning question to study 
• Developing and implementing a process and tools for the qualitative inquiry 
• Conducting a preliminary sensemaking process to discuss the results of the qualitative inquiry 
• Creating a clear action plan for expanding the qualitative inquiry over the next three months 
• Implementing the action plan and applying learning within the program 
• Integration of findings from QI within program
• Documentation of learning and project outcomes
• Share the findings of and program changes based on the expanded qualitative inquiry at the final learning event 

What is the timeline for the Fellowship?

​​​​​​For the current cohort:

• Application launches March 18, 2024
• Application closes April 12, 2024
• GAYA holds pre-selection calls with leadership from April 9-19
• Selected fellows are notified on April 26 and must confirm their participation by May 17
• Virtual preparatory sessions run from June 10-28 (once weekly)
• The in-person workshop will be held in early July (likely July 8-12 in Bangkok, Thailand)
• Virtual sessions for 6-8 weeks following the in-person workshop, including a virtual learning event with program leadership.
• Alumni network activities to follow the completion of the fellowship

For future cohorts:

• Applications will open for the next Cultivate Fellowship in mid-September 2024. If you are interested in receiving updates on future cohorts, please sign up to receive our newsletter. 

What is the Time Commitment for the Fellowship?

• Virtual Preparatory Meetings: 3 Weeks, 2.5 hours per week
• In-Person Workshop: 5 Days, 8 hours per day 
• Virtual Follow-Up Meetings: 6-8 Weeks,1.5 hours per week + time to complete a qualitative inquiry project

Questions? Email: gayacultivatefellowship@gmail.com