Call for applications from corporate employees to devote their skills towards creation of a better India
India CSR News Network
BANGALORE: NASSCOM Foundation, the forerunner at tapping IT-BPM sector’s strengths towards social development, and Head Held High Foundation, a champion of grassroots impact, launched, the ‘NASSCOM Foundation Head Held High Mettā Fellowship’.
The word Mettā, is a Buddhist term, meaning benevolence, friendliness, amity, friendship, goodwill, kindness, and active interest in others. Staying true to its name, The Mettā Fellowship will offer a great opportunity for the corporate workforce to be one with the community and bring about effective and sustainable social change. In the process, the NGOs they will be working with would receive technical and managerial expertise for creating efficient processes helping them achieve scale and increase the impact of their good work.
The Mettā Fellows will be dynamic and committed individuals, with their core competencies being channelized for social transformation. The programme promises to enhance academic, grassroots and managerial experience for corporate employees, and widen their cross-sectoral strengths and functions, helping them with key skills to standout in their work and in life.
In its first year of its operationalization, the program aims at on boarding work experienced fellows who will be deployed in partner NGOs, for eleven months, with the task of establishing processes and building capacities of the not-for-profit space. The fellows who successfully complete their stint will be felicitated with the title ‘Social Leaders Par Excellence’.
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, the country’s leading social impact institution will be the Academic Partner for the programme, curating the theoretical curriculum and conducting a community consciousness induction programme for theMettā Fellows.
Speaking at the launch event, Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman, NASSCOM Foundation said, “The Metta Fellowship programme, a first by NASSCOM Foundation in collaboration with Head Held High Foundation has been carefully crafted to bring about the best skills in corporate associates and put them to use in solving social problems. A win-win for all, the programme will sharpen the minds of associates widen their cross-sectoral strengths, the companies sending their associates will receive better leaders & socially active managers and the NGOs utilizing their services will gain technical and managerial expertise.”
Rajesh Bhat, Co-founder and Trustee, Head Held High Foundation, said, “At Head Held High, we have spent almost 10 years perfecting the model for making an impact in rural India. We are delighted to be partnering with NASSCOM Foundation, a leader in the development space, and launching the METTA Fellowship. We are also grateful to TISS, the leading institute in India for social impact, for being the academic partner for the initiative. Together, we believe we will be able to deliver great value for the METTA Fellows. We believe it’s a great opportunity for professionals who’re interested in the social space to re-boot their career!”
The event was also graced by the presence of CSR/HR leads of Bangalore’s top IT-BPM firms such as SAP, IBM, PayPal, Juniper, HSBC, DBOI, Tesco, Wipro among others and leaders of eminent Not-For-profits like Akshaya Patra, Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, Enable India, Nudge Foundation and more.
The Applications for the Fellowship are now open at www.metta.nasscomfoundation.org and will close by the 1st of September.
