Fellows Program

“The question of whether we will be able to create a sustainable society is not a question of if we have enough energy or money or technology – we have all of those. The question is, will there be enough leaders in time?” - Karl-Henrik Robert; Founder, The Natural Step

This question is at the core of the Village Corps approach, and the Fellowship program is central to answering it.

The Village Corps Fellowship Program is an online leadership course that trains volunteers to help coordinate resources for the communities they serve. Fellows work as “Coordinators” and communicate directly via cell phone voice, text message or email with Resource Partners and Village “Representatives” in the village.

Fellows help coordinate resources, raise money and ensure sustainable development goals are met on a village-by-village basis while providing leadership training and capacity building to stakeholders.


By partnering with villagers to create the conditions needed for a prosperous, self-sustaining local economy to flourish, villagers are given a sense of ownership in the process. Ensuring that local populations lead the decision and implementation process is both a more effective and more efficient approach. Village Corps Fellowship Program provides the framework, co-learning, and partnership methods necessary to help one village, but also to substantially scale village engagement around the world.

Village Corps Fellows are accepted on a competitive basis, evaluated on their experience, passion, knowledge, and interpersonal qualifications. Fellows are positioned according to interests, experience, and qualifications.

The program shares knowledge and experience about the Village Corps systemic approach to development rooted in four pillars:

Within each of these pillars, strategic partnerships with the foremost practitioners in these respective fields teach the Fellows on their learning journeys.

Through the program, Fellows will work with local village representatives and resource partners to help villagers to become self-reliant - to take ownership of their circumstances and to work collectively towards a sustainable and prosperous community. Fellows do not solve problems, rather they work with villagers to identify system failures, evaluate those failures then engage, empower, and mobilize villagers to create sustainable solutions on their own through the use of a vast network of resources on the Village Corps web platform.