Fellowship · Program · Operations

Hi, I'm Vijayendra.

I've spent 10+ years running programs where the people doing the work know more about it than I do. My job is to keep the money, the people and the plan pointed the same way.

That has meant microplanning for 100 villages around Jamshedpur, coordinating 60+ facilitators across three Indian states, and most recently directing a multi-million dollar fellowship portfolio at Bard College in New York. Off the clock, I sing Carnatic music, hike and watch far too many films.

See the story so far Get in touch

Receipts

Numbers from my actual CV. No hallucinations included.

10+years directing complex, specialist-driven programs
500,000people covered by a 100-village microplanning exercise
60+facilitators managed across 3 states
Multi-milliondollar fellowship portfolio overseen at Bard College
3publications, including a peer-reviewed Routledge chapter (2022)
3languages: English, Hindi, Kannada

The story so far

I'm a movie buff, so here's my career as a film in four acts. Every bit of it is true. The jokes are optional.

🎞️ The whole film, frame by frame
Learning Doing Peacebuilding
Opening credits2011–13

MA Financial Economics

GIPE, Pune. Studied money.

Opening credits2013–15

MA Social Work

TISS, Mumbai. Then studied people.

Act I2015–18

Tata Steel Foundation

Jamshedpur. 100 villages, around 500,000 people.

Plot twist2016–17

Caux Scholars Program

Panchgani. Scholar, then coordinator.

Act II2018–19

Chevening Scholar

University of Manchester.

Act III2020–23

Yuva Shakti (CSEI)

3 states, 60+ facilitators.

Act IV2024–26

Bard College

New York. Multi-million dollar fellowships.

Scroll sideways to roll the film →

The route
  1. PuneEconomics
  2. MumbaiSocial work
  3. Jamshedpur100 villages
  4. PanchganiCaux Scholars
  5. ManchesterChevening
  6. KA · UP · Bihar60+ facilitators
  7. New YorkBard fellowships
Opening credits

A South Indian kid who studied money, then studied people

First came an MA in Financial Economics at GIPE, Pune (2013). Then an MA in Social Work at TISS, Mumbai (2015), because it turned out spreadsheets were the easy part. Most of my career has been about the people behind the numbers.

Act I · 2015 to 2018 · Jamshedpur

Development Officer to Project Lead, Tata Steel Foundation

Logline: someone gives a young officer a plan for 100 villages. The villages have opinions.

  • Led a 100-village microplanning exercise covering around 500,000 people.
  • Worked with indigenous communities, community leaders, administrators and NGOs to turn top-down plans into action people locally trusted.
  • Built documentation, audit and compliance reporting across a dispersed operation.

Plot twist: along the way I joined the Caux Scholars Program at Asia Plateau, Panchgani (2016 to 2017), my first real training in peacebuilding. I enjoyed it enough to go back the next year as a coordinator.

Act II · 2018 to 2019 · Manchester

Chevening Scholar, University of Manchester

Logline: a man swaps his monsoon for British drizzle to study why reconstruction so often fails.

  • Postgraduate Diploma in International Development: Poverty, Conflict and Reconstruction.
  • Learned the theory behind things I had already seen go wrong (and right) on the ground.
Act III · 2020 to 2023 · Karnataka, UP and Bihar

Karnataka Lead and National Strategic Advisor, Yuva Shakti (CSEI)

Logline: three states, 60+ facilitators, a pandemic and almost no hierarchy. Somehow it works.

3states
60+facilitators
30,000+people helped through COVID hunger*
  • Directed action research and youth mobilisation across Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
  • Ran budgets and reporting with a lean team.
  • Facilitated dialogue between groups with sharply different political and social views.
  • Co-authored a Routledge chapter (2022) on the youth leadership we built.
*The figure from our Routledge case study of a volunteer network that organised over digital platforms during COVID-19.
Act IV · Feb 2024 to Jun 2026 · New York

Fellowship Director, Bard College

Logline: a non-specialist office has to steer a room full of experts. Enter the person who asks the good questions.

  • Oversaw a multi-million dollar grant-funded fellowship portfolio.
  • Reviewed workplans, budgets and technical progress reports, and flagged risk early.
  • Ran the full grant lifecycle: design, onboarding, monitoring, reporting and close-out.
  • Supported an international board with governance, secretariat work, compliance tracking and fiduciary oversight.
Post-credits scene

Board member, Hindus for Human Rights

Hands-on experience with 501(c)(3) governance. And the sequel? In development, and casting now. Get in touch.

My CV, translated

Same facts, two voices. Flip the switch.

Fellowships and honours

The people who picked me for these had a choice. I like to think they chose well.

Fellowship · GreenFaith · May 2025

GreenFaith North America Fellow

GreenFaith's fellowship trains people from different faith traditions to lead on climate and environmental justice.

Fellowship · Sept 2023

Compassion and Resilience Fellow

A fellowship about building compassion and resilience: in yourself, and in the teams and communities you work with.

Scholarship · UK Government · 2018–19

Chevening Scholar

The UK government's global scholarship for future leaders. It took me to the University of Manchester for a Postgraduate Diploma in International Development: Poverty, Conflict and Reconstruction.

Program · Asia Plateau, Panchgani · 2016–17

Caux Scholars Program

My first real training in peacebuilding and conflict transformation. I went back the next year as a coordinator.

Training and certifications

Learning for life: management, leadership, and lately, getting fluent in AI. Newest first.

  1. Professional certification · BlueDot Impact

    Future of AI

    Today's AI systems through hands-on demos and case studies, possible paths to AGI, and what it all means for society.

    Verify certificate ↗
  2. Certificate of completion · Mercor

    Introduction to Agents

    An introduction to AI agents: what they are and how they get work done.

    Verify certificate ↗
  3. Certificate of completion · Anthropic

    AI Fluency for Nonprofits

    How to use AI well and responsibly in nonprofit work.

    Verify certificate ↗
  4. Earlier
    Executive education · IIM Kolkata

    General Management Program

    A general management program from the Indian Institute of Management Kolkata.

  5. Earlier
    Leadership · Tata Steel Adventure Foundation

    Leadership Training

    Leadership training with the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation, learnt outdoors.

Publications

Writing that got past an editor. One was even peer-reviewed.

Book chapter · Routledge · 2022

Common Minimum Universe: Role of Youth Leadership in Community Development

With Swathi Pottabathini and Kumar Gaurav. In New Leadership of Civil Society Organisations: Community Development and Engagement (Routledge Explorations in Development Studies). It's a case study of a volunteer group that used digital platforms and personal networks to help more than 30,000 people cope with hunger during COVID-19.

Read on Taylor & Francis → Essay · American Kahani · Nov 2021

Mightier Than ‘The Shawshank Redemption’: ‘Jai Bhim’ is the Cinema India Needs Right Now

What happens when a movie buff who works on social justice reviews a courtroom drama about social justice.

Read the essay →
Working paper

Domestic workers who migrated from Bijapur and Gulbarga to Mumbai

Research on women and men who left north Karnataka for domestic work in Mumbai: why they moved, and what work and life looked like when they got there.

Off the clock

I'm not only a CV, I promise.

Hiking and trekking

Give me a trail in the Western Ghats and a good reason to wake up at 4am. It's a lot like program work: plan the route, check the weather, and expect the map to be wrong somewhere.

Trained Carnatic vocalist

Classical Carnatic music works inside strict structure and still leaves room to improvise. That's also how I like to run programs.

Certified movie buff

I'll watch anything from Kannada and Tamil cinema to old Hollywood. I care about films enough to write about them, and enough to frame this whole page as one.

Disclosure: AI helped build this page. A human decided what is true.

The honest bit

Yes, I used AI. So did every other applicant. After a lot of applications that all sounded like a LinkedIn post wearing a blazer, I tried something different. This is my CV, but with fewer buzzwords and a pulse.

What AI did

  • Helped me tidy sentences
  • Wrote the first draft of this layout
  • Suggested the word "synergy" (rejected)

What AI did not do

  • Sit through the village meetings
  • Get 60+ people across 3 states aligned
  • Decide what a good fellowship looks like
Will an AI detector flag this page?
Estimated human involvement: 0%. Methodology: vibes. Accuracy: also vibes.

Okay, so how do we talk?

I finished at Bard in June 2026 and can start soon. Humans reply fastest. Robots also welcome.

Email me LinkedIn

vijayendrakadalabal@gmail.com | vijayendra.yuvashakti@protonmail.com | +91-9731809287