Cultural Survival is pleased to announce its 2025 call for proposals for our Indigenous Youth Fellowships to support individuals or groups of young Indigenous communicators, activists, artists, creatives and visionaries to develop their capacities, training, research, production and creation aimed at strengthening their cultural identity and leadership. Youth leadership development is an integral part of ensuring the wellness of communities, and Indigenous youth are the future of that well-being. 

Details

• Award Amount:  up to 6,000 US Dollars
• Execution Period: 10 months (April 2025 – Feb 2026) 

Timeline 

• Open Call for Proposal Concepts: Nov 1, 2024
• Deadline to Submit Proposal Concepts: Nov 30, 2024
• Notification of Proposal Concepts Selected: Dec 15, 2024
• Submission of Detailed Narrative Proposals: Dec 30, 2024
• Reviewing Stage: Jan, 2025
• Notification of Selected Fellows: Feb, 2025 
• Awarding Stage: Mar, 2025
• Fellowship Projects Can Begin: Apr, 2025 
   

Eligibility

This year our fellowship program will offer support to individuals or groups of Indigenous youth with multidisciplinary creative and visionary concepts. Applicants must be able to work independently and be responsible for implementing their project. Fellows will work closely with Cultural Survival staff and a local mentor (a person who can advise, reinforce, and provide feedback to achieve the proposed goals voluntarily) throughout the fellowship process.

*Underrepresented genders: cis women, trans women, trans men, two-spirits, non-binary people, and those who are marginalized by their gender are encouraged to apply.* 

Applicants must: 

• Be Indigenous youth between the ages of 17 to 28 years.
• Have access to the internet and other forms of virtual communication.
• Committed to collaborating with Cultural Survival & meeting deadlines.
• Preferably fluent in an Indigenous language or interested in learning it. 
• Not a former Cultural Survival Youth Fellow
• Reside in the eligible countries: In North America: United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In South America: Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, and Brazil. In Asia: Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Papua Guinea, and India. In Africa: Ghana, Cameroon, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and Kenya.  

Proposals must: 

• Be 3 – 10 months long and planned to be completed during the execution period (April 2025 to February 2026). 
•  focused on any of the following 13 themes:
  • Preparedness or Response to Climate Crisis
  • Environmental and biodiversity protection
  • Indigenous Rights & Legal Mechanism 
  • Defense of land and territory (ex: investigative journalism) 
  • Preservation and revitalization of Indigenous languages
  • Recovery of cosmogony and ancestry 
  • Indigenous Gender Diversity
  • Indigenous community media (radio, audiovisual, digital security, etc) 
  • Preservation of Traditional Practices (medicine, agriculture, storytelling, etc)
  • Research of traditional knowledge systems
  • Maintenance of ecosystem services (water, land, etc) 
  • Food sovereignty & Indigenous Economy 
  • Cultural Artistic Expression (audiovisual, performing arts, creative writing, arts and crafts). 

How to apply 

A proposal concept for The 2025 Indigenous Youth Fellowship must be submitted via Google Form no later than 11:59 pm ET on November 30, 2024. Notifications for the first round of results will be sent via email by Dec 15, 2024. On this communication, selected candidates will be given a form to submit a full detailed project proposal along with a budget for the second round of reviews. A second notification with final decisions will be released in February 2025. The awarding process will take place in March and fellows can begin their projects in April. 

Please be sure that the email address included on the google form is a valid email account that is checked regularly. Applications cannot be accessed once submitted. A 5-minute video or audio submission to the questions listed on the form is available as an alternative submission option and can be attached in the same google form. 

Google Form Link 

We accept applications in the following languages: Spanish, English, Portuguese, Nepalese, Sunuwar, Hindi, K’iche’ Maya, Kaqchikel, Poqomam, Didxazá, (Isthmus Zapotec), Ayuujk, Afrikaans, and French.

Download Informational Packet