Our Fellowship

A comprehensive approach to equitable access to education and opportunity

Fellows are selected through a rigorous process built on three principles: academic excellence, financial need, and a demonstrated commitment to service and leadership. Samaanta partners with public schools in rural Nepal to identify candidates, who go through written exams, interviews, and a home visit to verify financial circumstances before a Fellowship agreement is signed with the student and their family. Once selected, Fellows live in residential hostels in Kathmandu for the full duration of their Fellowship, alongside their peers from other cohorts. 

Alongside tuition, housing, a monthly stipend, and other direct costs, Fellows get language and computer training, leadership workshops, and mentorship throughout their Fellowship journey. Research on education and employment outcomes in Nepal has found that social capital, not credentials alone, often determines who gets hired. For Fellows who are frequently the first in their family or community to attend college, Samaanta’s mentorship and networking support is designed to close that gap directly.

Fellows also take on leadership roles within Samaanta, running committees across communications, events, and fundraising. Every year, current Fellows organize a campaign called “One More Fellow”, raising funds among themselves to support an additional student from a disadvantaged background, a tradition built on the belief that the opportunity they received is one worth extending to someone else.

How Fellows are Selected

Fellows are selected on three core criteria: academic excellence, financial need, and demonstrated commitment to service and leadership potential. We recognize that a student’s access to education is shaped not only by their financial circumstances but also by their social background and the inequalities they experience. We are therefore intentional about inclusion in every recruitment cycle, making conscious efforts to reach talented students from diverse socio-ethnic backgrounds, particularly those who face disproportionate barriers to educational opportunity.

The selection process runs as follows:

1. Identify rural target schools and partner networks
2. Nominations come in for students appearing for their SEE exams, either from partner schools or through Samaanta’s network with other organizations, such as Teach for Nepal
3. Nominated students sit a written examinations and go through multiple rounds of interviews
4. Home visits are conducted to verify the family’s financial capabilities  
5. Final selections are made in time for 11th grade admission

Each Fellowship begins as a 2-year agreement for high school (grades 11 and 12) and can be extended up to 4 more years for an undergraduate degree given the fellow continues to excel in academics and extra-curricular activities.

What the fellowship covers

• Core costs:

  tuition, room and board, transportation, uniforms, and exam fees

• Room & board

  Fellows are housed in hostels in Kathmandu, with accommodations separated by gender

• College Placement

  support in securing placement at strong colleges

• Training and workshops

  language and computer training, leadership workshops, and other skill-building opportunities

• Mentorship

  structured, staged mentorship throughout the Fellowship (see below)

• Networking and internship

  exposure and connections intended to help Fellows transition into the job market

• Leadership opportunities

  Fellows can take on roles across various Fellow-run committees

How the Fellowship is Financed

Samaanta’s Fellowship is designed to provide comprehensive support while keeping the cost of each Fellowship as low as possible. We work with partner schools, colleges, and hostels to secure reduced fees and other subsidies, allowing us to support more Fellows with the resources available.

Samaanta’s funding comes from individual donors, institutional partners, and its wider network of supporters. These funds cover the educational, living, and developmental costs that form part of the Fellowship.

Values of the Samaanta Foundation Fellowship

The Fellowship is built on four commitments we ask Fellows to carry forward. 

Continued excellence: We expect Fellows to keep striving academically and to lead by example in their daily lives, not just in the classroom. 

Ownership of education: Fellows and their families contribute what they can, so the Fellowship complements rather than replaces their role, and Fellows take real ownership of their own path.

Paying it forward: Service: Fellows are expected to give back as part of the program, not just receive support. This includes Fellow-led “Paying It Forward” initiatives, community service, and participation in Samaanta’s annual “One More Fellow” fundraiser.

Empowering communities: We invest in Fellows not just for their own sake, but because we believe they will go on to be a source of opportunity and change in the communities they come from.