Media For Social Change Fellowship – YES Foundation | Manisha Bishnoi

Manisha, a B.Sc. (Hons) Zoology student from Acharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi, who has always believed in action rather than words. She has completed 2 months fellowship at YES Foundation, achieved her goals and established herself as a doer.

Here, Manisha is sharing her experience being a YES Fellow Designate placed at Roshni Sanstha, a Non-Profit Organisation. Her apprenticeship will certainly propel her ahead of the curve.

Go ahead and know what her story has to offer to aspiring youth so that you can easily find a path of self-growth. Young Influxers go ahead and upgrade yourself!!!

Fellowship: Media For Social Change Fellowship

How did you come to know about the fellowship?

Through a friend

Is there any stipend?

I was provided with the fellowship certificate, the title of ‘YES Fellow’, and a stipend of INR 10,000 upon successful completion of the fellowship.

What were your responsibilities as a fellow?

My keen responsibilities as an intern were to manage social media handles of Roshni Sanstha. I had to come up with new and creative ideas to develop an effective social media strategy. The regular coverage of the initiatives of a non-profit organization to empower women and children of the slum areas. Due to inadequacy of online visibility, the efforts of the social impact organisation at the grass-root level are not reaching other people.

I used to update regular feeds through engaging content to raise awareness regarding issues of women and their employability. Fellows were aimed to help women to become self-dependent and children to be healthy. To accomplish that I had to thoughtfully plan and organise the regular visits to the slum areas to meet our purpose.

How much time did you contribute on a daily basis?

I used to contribute 5-6 working hours each day except weekends.

Share your proudest achievements and how were you able to realize them.

I was very happy to maximize the communication efforts of organization i.e. Social Media reach was enhanced within a short span of time, Roshni Sanstha marked its presence on various Social Media platforms, to reach out to many more females, and to raise funds efficiently. In spite of increased public engagement on Social Media for women empowerment, but still, there was a huge population where the social media campaigns were insufficient to reach.

And I aimed to help them, With other co-fellow designates, I had planned a one to one conversation in every house of the slum. And there I realised, the real and the proudest achievement is when you reach and work at the grassroots level to impart the social change. I am glad to have a chance to empathise and understand the problems of slum women and to enrol them in the free training courses offered by the non-profit.

What are the top learnings, skills and values that you acquired here?

1. Social Media Management: I learned the ways and techniques of using social media to bring social change. This fellowship introduced me to various social media handles which demanded me to learn new skills and perform well.
2. Content Curation: Initially I had a slight idea about content curation. Once after the induction training by experienced Industry leaders, I was infused with so many ideas. I used them well to create effective content to raise funds, to aware people, to create high-quality videos and posters.
3. Teamwork: Whiled working with people of different age groups different skills and different perspectives, It challenged me to bring them together and use the blend to effectively work upon a cause. There I learned to deal with people and became more competent to work in a team.
4. Adapting to office culture: I was not at all habituated to office culture, One needs to know the way to carry themselves in office and be productive at the same time. I developed office ethics. And the values like open-mindedness, acceptance adjustment provided me with an orientation to conduct myself properly in the system of organization.

Do you feel this experience is a stepping stone towards success in life? Illustrate how the experience gained will help you going forward in your career.

This fellowship program helped me to develop socially conscious leadership and amplified the communication of social impact organizations. One week-long induction training which helped me to gain knowledge of various aspects of social media platforms. It provided me with new insights and perspectives while also getting a chance to learn under the Leaders from different expertise i.e. marketing, communication and development sector senior experts. My learning experiences of this Fellowship will always reside in my heart and will guide me throughout my journey.

What is your advice to those, who are aspiring the same or a similar internship?

Those who are aspiring to get the similar internship I would say to them first to articulate a vision for their career and future academic life and to Identify the skills and experiences you would gain from this fellowship. Then choose the fellowship that would directly help you achieve your professional and academic goals.

If you have been selected for this opportunity then I would suggest a fellow dive deep into the work they are doing or assigned. In exchange, you learn more by exploring and broadening your horizons. As people increasingly look to experiential learning programs and more exposure to grow their skills and networks, Then it is the best opportunity to do so.

Moreover while working you will come across many new ideas as well, some of them might be very unique. I would suggest just don’t let them pass easily, come out of your comfort zones and work upon them to create something real.

How can we (Friends, Family, YI Fraternity) encourage young students such as yourself to involve themselves in different opportunities?

I would say we can not build the future for ourselves but we can build ourselves for the future. In this era when anything ain’t certain, the only thing you can assure to yourself is your own skills, knowledge and growth. Finding an opportunity and exploring to acquire new experiences, new skills, broadening your horizons and to be future-ready is all that matters. And if you want yourselves to be open to any possibility. So, get through the upcoming opportunities of your interest to become a better version of yourself.

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We at Young Influx would take this opportunity to thank Manisha for taking a leap of faith and sharing her impeccable story. We are humbled and grateful, your efforts mean a lot for the youth seeking growth and development.

And hello, dear readers, we welcome you to explore the platform with an open mind. Help yourself gain most out of the experiences and opportunities listed here.

And before you bid us adieu, we would like you to know that you can read more such student stories here.