The Banyan Impact Fellowship (BIF), formerly known as the William J. Clinton Fellowship, is an immersive bi-national volunteer service program with immense strategic importance in the US-India corridor. Through its emphasis on a service-leadership model, BIF places young professionals from the US and India with communities and organizations across the two countries for mutual learning, capacity building, and leadership development–all towards the greater aim of driving social change.
Fellows work on projects closely linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and drive impact through service and fieldwork across diverse thematic areas, such as education, public health, livelihoods, social inclusion, climate change mitigation, LGBTQ+ rights, gender, arts, sports, CSR, and many others.
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Hear From Our Fellows
Glimpses From the field
Discover the inspiring stories of our 2023-24 Banyan Impact Fellows, Jahnavi Zondervan and Vineet Prakash. Jahnavi teamed up with Vikalp Sansthan to empower young girls through art, while Vineet collaborated with Doctors For You to deliver essential healthcare in rural communities—both working to promote equity, address critical needs, and transform lives.
The Fellowship has reaffirmed my commitment to a career of service at the intersection of development and environmental change sectors. My Fellowship journey has been a thoroughly challenging, but incredibly fruitful experience. While I am learning and growing every day of this journey, I am also empowered to leave my own unique impact on the communities I work with and within the project I am implementing.
Michael, 2023/24
I’ve deeply appreciated all the experiences I’ve been able to have as a Banyan Impact Fellow. At my host organization, I was welcomed to the table as an equal contributor in all our project, from climate resiliency training to a national scale teacher training on climate change, and I’ve truly felt my work has meaning with a scope larger than I could have imagined.
Sydney, 2023/24
Engaging in person with the cohort and the extended network and understanding and appreciating diverse cultures and skill sets after the pandemic is the experience I didn't realize I needed the most.
Namrata, 2022/23 Fellow, Service in the United States
The US track of this fellowship allows you to find yourself again by putting yourself in a new challenging ecosystem. It allows us to actively engage ourselves in an environment of peer learning and knowledge sharing. The matchmaking process with host organizations gives us ample opportunities to hone our professional skills so that we can scale the impact of our work back at home upon return.
Tabish, 2022/23 Fellow, Service in the United States
The fellowship taught me leadership in a way I couldn't have imagined and gave me friends and a network of organizations that I couldn't have met otherwise.
Maitreyi, 2017/18 Fellow, Service in IndiaOur Impact
- 00 Fellows
- 00 Partner Organizations
- 00 States and Union Territories
The Significance of the Banyan Tree
The Banyan is a symbol of strength, resilience, and interconnectedness. It serves as a powerful metaphor for mobilizing a collective, cross-generational force towards sustainable impact. The process of the Banyan spreading its roots, which over the course of time become trees of their own, is a strong representation of how we want to see this program growing.
Each and every step, effort, and individual working towards positive change is an integral part of the ecosystem we want aim to build - one that supports and amplifies social impact.
For any questions, please do not hesitate to email us at fellowship@aif.org
Hear From Our Donors
Vivek and Vandana Sharma Foundation
AIF has been in partnership with the Vivek and Vandana Sharma Foundation since 2020 for MAHI (MANSI Adolescent Health Initiative) in Uttarakhand. The partnership covers Yamkeshwar, Dwarikhar, and Dugadda blocks of district Pauri Garhwal. Covering a population of 1,87,938 the program has benefitted more than 6000 adolescent girls in 602 villages. The partnership focuses on key issues faced by adolescent girls including under-nutrition, anemia, and issues related to menstruation and menstrual hygiene and aims to provide them with essential health education and training.
Rural India Supporting Trust (RIST)
RIST and AIF have been working in partnership since 2017 for MANSI in Uttarakhand. This partnership covers 10 blocks and 1300+ villages in Haridwar and Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand. Over 2,221 ASHAs have been trained and more than 2 lakh beneficiaries have benefitted including pregnant and lactating women, children under five years of age, and adolescent girls. This partnership is focused on strengthening the health care delivery system at the community level.
Hear from our donors, Lata Krishnan and Ajay Shah, along with our Banyan Impact Fellows, as they share their personal experiences and insights on the Fellowship. Discover how the program has fostered impactful collaborations, shaped professional growth, and driven positive change within the communities they serve.
