JUNE 28, 2008
The Sarah Kailath Women’s Leadership Award was originally started as the ICA Women Fellows’ Fund in 2008 as an extension of ICA’s mission to invest in the development of communities in India through innovative approaches and projects and committed leaders.
The fund was renamed this year in memory of Sarah Kailath, a long-time supporter of ICA’s mission and activities. She believed passionately in the importance of giving women more leadership opportunities and along with her family set up a charitable trust in India. The initiative focuses exclusively on helping to build a community of future women leaders from Indian NGOs and assist professionals and volunteers in fields related to issues supported by ICA, including human rights, women’s rights, health, rural empowerment, poverty alleviation, livelihood, environment and others.
Fellows are selected through a competitive application process with applicants from all over India, with backgrounds ranging from sustainable development, and public health and others. These women are offered scholarships to attend short-term formalized leadership training at institutions in the San Francisco Bay area. The goals of this initiative is to 1) identify women activists in India with potential leadership capabilities who could benefit from this training, get a broader perspective and have a greater impact on their communities; 2) Invest in future leadership of women and help expand the capacity and network of emerging leaders; 3) Supplement conventional knowledge about critical issues and techniques with management skills and leadership development.
Suchitra Rao, who had a notable record of effective commitment to the rights of children and women, was the first fellow supported by this fund. She was selected for the Women Leaders of the World program at Santa Clara University in July 2008 and says ”I have been fortunate to have this enriching and novel experience and sincerely thank ICA for having made this possible. I am convinced that this is a sure way to impact the change process– by identifying and supporting emerging women leaders and expanding their spheres of influence. I sincerely hope that many more women leaders from various walks of life in India will have the opportunity to benefit from this novel program set in motion by ICA”.
The future plans include raising enough funds to invest in more women leaders with the potential to make a substantial difference in their communities. Identifying relevant short-term leadership programs in India has also been put in motion. Applications are available online at www.icaonlie,org.
If you believe in supporting women who can successfully take a stand on a key social issue of critical importance, coalesce a following around the initiative, and forge ahead in making real changes for people in need, we urge you to generously support this fund. For more information, write to lata_p@hotmail.com. To apply for the program, please download this application: Leadership Application Form
Suchitra Rao from Bangalore was ICA’s first Fellowship candidate and came with strong credentials and years of experience working on children and women’s issues. As a Coordinator of The Child Labor Elimination Projects of Government of Karnataka and a consultant with UNICEF for the last 8 years, her role has been one of facilitation and coordination for effectively converging the strengths of the government departments, NGOs and the local community. In that capacity, her focus and priority has been the elimination of child labor, combating trafficking of women and children and concerted action for child protection. 
She was selected to attend the Women Leaders of the World (WLW) program of the Global Women’s Leadership network associated with the Santa Clara University’s Leavy School of Business. The WLW is a formalized leadership development effort focused on training women leaders from across the world impacting change and above all a transformation in various aspects of an activist’s life. All participants are leaders in their own right with over 10-20 years of experience in their sphere of work, who are selected with a firm belief in the difference that these women are making in the world today and changing the lives of people and the community around them. Their backgrounds range from addressing girls’ right to survival to gender equality, local governance and sustenance, political leadership, environment sustainability, media and women’s voices, children’s rights, worker’s rights, micro-credit and economic empowerment of women etc.
ICA’s recently established Fellowship Fund was initiated with an exclusive focus on leadership education in order to encourage and strengthen women’s leadership potential while at the same time supporting capacity-building and leadership development in India-based Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO)
“It is heartening to note the importance that ICA places on the development of human resources – a core investment principle of most Corporate and Business enterprises as this is key to and critical for any initiative that aims at bringing change for progress. Without a highly motivated, critical thinking and committed leadership most well planned programs and lofty visions would fall flat” as Suchitra puts it.