SAYDS Fellowship · USA Track
SAYDS USA Summer 2027 Fellowship Systems Thinking for Inclusive Policy Work
Equipping the next generation of policy workers with systems thinking skills for inclusive policy work.
Overview
Policy work that accounts for the whole system
Complex social problems, from systemic inequalities to environmental crises, cannot be solved with conventional, siloed approaches. They require an understanding of interconnected systems and the ability to do inclusive policy work. The SAYDS Summer 2027 Fellowship is an intensive, transformative program designed for visionary youth ready to tackle society’s complex challenges through public policy interventions.
Fellows apply SAYDS’s systems thinking approach, the same HIESEA framework behind every SAYDS fellowship, specifically to inclusive, participatory policy work.
At a glance
- Open to youth ages 18 to 24
- Runs Summer 2027
- Round 1 closes November 30, 2026
Who Should Apply
Designed primarily for youth ages 18 to 24 who:
- Aspire to work in public service careers, government agencies, public administration, and civil service
- Want to learn how to do ethical and systemic policy work in grassroots and municipal community development interventions
- Fight for equitable policies and amplify voices excluded from policymaking spaces as social justice activists and advocates
- Seek to become future political leaders, local government innovators, and consultants dedicated to crafting fair, systemic policy solutions
- Want to learn how to create human-centered social innovations in public policy to address complex public issues as social entrepreneurs
- Want to know how to ethically and constructively engage in policy debates and public deliberations on complex policy issues
- Would like to develop skills for facilitating the representation of different perspectives and different types of knowledge in public policies that are designed to tackle complex social issues
Hear From SAYDS Fellows
Hear from fellows in our Kenya program, the foundation this fellowship is built on
Apply
SAYDS USA Summer 2027 Fellowship
Round 1 application deadline: November 30, 2026