Questions, answered.

The Fellowship is a programme of Friends of Pakistan — Society and Fund, which closes the capital gap between global funders and scalable non-profits and social businesses. It is run in close partnership with Mulago Foundation, whose design-for-scale frameworks are at the heart of the curriculum, and Taleemabad, which provides execution support and practitioner experience. The first cohort, in 2026, was the inaugural cohort, sponsored by Mulago Foundation.

Founders, or the senior-most leader with real decision-making power, of early- to mid-stage organisations that improve the lives of the poor or meet their basic needs — in health, education, livelihoods and beyond. Your organisation should be past the pilot stage, with real users today.

Yes. Your annual budget for the most recent complete financial year should be at least USD 100,000, and you should have basic financial systems in place (audited statements or equivalent).

The fellowship is built for organisations past the pilot stage, with steady delivery and reach numbers from the last 12 months. If you are earlier than that, we would love to hear from you in a future year.

Organisations registered in Pakistan or abroad (for example, a US 501(c)(3)) can apply. Your programme must serve people in Pakistan.

One leader attends per organisation, and it must be the person with real decision-making power. Founders are strongly preferred. A co-founder may attend instead of the CEO if they have real decision-making power.

Yes. The frameworks use terms that do not translate easily, so you need to be fluent in English to take full part.

About 25 minutes of typing once you have gathered your numbers. Before you start, have ready: your active user count and how you define "active", the month your first outside user started, your three largest sites with users and start dates, your primary metric and how you measure it, and your single best outcome result.

Yes. Your answers are saved automatically in your browser as you type, so you can close the page and return on the same device and browser. To draft on paper or across devices, download the PDF version of the application from the Apply page and paste your answers in when you are ready.

We read every application over about two weeks. Shortlisted founders are invited to a single 45-minute conversation with the Friends of Pakistan Fellowship team, which starts from your answers. Final selection of twelve organisations follows.

Final decisions are made about five weeks after the application deadline. We write to every applicant by email.

No. Applying is free.

The fellowship is fully funded: accommodation, meals and domestic travel are covered. International flights are not covered.

Seven days in Northern Pakistan. Dates and venue for the current cohort are listed under Key dates on the Apply page.

Not during sessions. The week only works if you are fully present, so we ask fellows not to check email or take calls during sessions, and to set an out-of-office. Plan for seven days, plus travel.

Fellows leave with a scale blueprint, connections to funders from Demo Day, a peer network of Pakistan's most ambitious founders, and access to ongoing mentorship from the faculty. Fellows become Friends of Pakistan members and stay connected to its network of investors and philanthropists.