Critical civil society organizations fight inequality, protect the public, and partner with the public sector to serve its citizens. In the era of ubiquitous technology, it’s paramount that civil society also work to address societal issues, as they converge with the digital world. Building capacity at the intersection of technology and society will help ensure the relevance and sustainability of these institutions.
The Ford Foundation and Mozilla are partnering to strengthen organizations in the Global South by layering technology strategies into their work. This will help create a ‘third space’ where key civil society organizations and tech-focused individuals address issues at the intersection of technology and society. This will also seek to address the political element of technology — that technology as a neutral tool is affected by its creators and their biases. Benefits, harms and side effects come from how systems are designed, what data is selected to train them and what business rules they are given.
We envision that, in 10 years, this collaborative ‘third space’ will flourish in the Global South in which civil society organizations demonstrate strong capacity to address major issues at the nexus of social justice and technology. These organizations will leverage technology to promote these issues while preventing or mitigating their risks.
At the program level, Ford and Mozilla will place senior technology strategists as Fellows within select organizations and coalitions that are foundational to the strength and capacity of regional civil society.
Fellows will help increase the impact of the organization’s work by supporting them to recognize, design, and implement a strategy that accounts for the impact of technology on the organization’s mission.
Eligibility:
- Be an experienced technologist.
- Reside or have work authorization in the host country.
- Have relevant cultural knowledge of the host country.
- Be strategically-minded and consultant-oriented with experience in identifying problems and solutions at the intersection of technology and social justice issues.
- Be able to carry out fellowship work to an extent generally consistent with full-time engagement.
- Engagement length is a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 2 years, with an expectation that most will go for the full two year cycle.
Selection Criteria:
- Mission Driven: We’re looking for individuals with a track record of success working at the intersection of technology and social justice in the region, and a dedication to continuing to work on the issue after their fellowship year. In addition to having a long term commitment to working on the issue(s) proposed in their application, fellows should align with Mozilla’s interests and focus, and be able to easily leverage Mozilla’s strengths as an organization, i.e. open source ethos, large network of contributors.
- Collaboration: An ideal candidate for a Mozilla Fellowship should enter the program with an issue at the intersection of technology and social justice that would benefit from partnership with their selected host organization. We’re looking for fellows with an eagerness to share skills and learn new, and to work in the open.
- Impact: We’re looking for individuals focused on solving issues that will make – or be the catalyst for -significant change, with tangible, measurable results. Fellows should also be able to articulate how the impact of their project will advance the change they’d like to see in the world.
- Leverage: Ideal candidates for a Mozilla fellowship will understand how to leverage their proposal to drive change at a wide level. We’re looking for individuals who are able to think about changing systems, and understand levers of change.
- Initiative: An ideal candidate for a Mozilla Fellowship is someone who shows a lot of initiative, and will take charge of the experiences and opportunities given to them. Fellows are expected to manage their time and resources, and must be comfortable working with a high level of autonomy.
- Communication: We’re looking for individuals with an interest in advocating for change and/or popularizing new ideas and approaches, and be comfortable using their voice – whether through written media or public speaking – to do so. Fellows should also have the ability to explain technology to a broad audience.
Full Application:
To help you prepare your full application, we’ve provided a list of application questions below. Please remember:
- You must submit your application using the application form on Mozilla’s Fluxx portal.
- Your application must be submitted in English.
- The character counts below include spaces.
Key Dates:
- Registration Deadline- Thursday, May 28, 2020 12pm PT
- Full Application Deadline- Tuesday, June 2, 2020 12pm PT
- Notification of Results- By July 31 2020
How to Apply:
The application for a Mozilla Fellowship is a two part process: 1) registration and 2) full application. The registration form and full application must be submitted in English using Mozilla’s Fluxx portal.
- Registration: To begin the application process, complete the Mozilla Fellows 2020-2021 Registration Form. Within two business days of submitting your registration form, you will receive an email from @fluxx.io with instructions to set your password on Mozilla’s Fluxx portal. The answers you provide on your registration form will become a part of your full application, and will be assessed by reviewers. Please provide accurate and complete responses to the questions on the registration form.
- Full application: To complete the full application, log in to your account on https://mozilla.fluxx.io. A full application form will be available in the “Drafts” section of the portal. Once you submit your application, you will receive a confirmation email within two business days. If you have not received a confirmation email within two business days please email grants@mozillafoundation.org.
Applications will be reviewed by a restricted panel of reviewers made up of Mozilla staff, organizational partners, and other experts in the discipline(s) of the application. You may also be invited to participate in an interview as part of the review process.
For additional information, visit Mozilla Fellows for Tech + Society
