Fellowship · Developing
The Borderless Virtual State
A fellowship community for people whom maps have split, stranded or erased. It is governed by the twelve practices of the Manifesto for a Borderless Community and protected by the Community Veto, extending what Amal and Volunteers for Palestine already proved with their cohort model.
This is a proposed blueprint drawn from the manuscript. Dates have not been set, and details may change.
In the manuscript, the Amal Initiative’s Storytelling Fellowship began “not as a curriculum, not as a ‘content strategy,’ but as a shield” — teaching writing as something a person does so that they are not found only in the account someone else has already given of them.
Membership rests on shared experience rather than papers, capital or tokens, and authority sits with the people closest to the harm.
We are all, in our own ways, displaced - searching for home, longing to feel at home when we get there, and seeking to restore the dignity, story, and agency that borders and history so often tear away.
- 36
- fellows in the first cohort
- 6
- pods of 6
- 5
- months, 20 weeks
- 12
- practices in 4 movements
- ~133
- hours in total
One month per movement, each opened by an immersive of two 4-hour learning labs on consecutive days, carried by weekly 2-hour pod sessions, and closed by field practice in the fellow's own community. Month 5 turns all four movements into one real project.
About 133 hours over 20 weeks, roughly 6 to 7 hours a week, and all of it can be completed online by a fellow who cannot travel.
- Week 0 Consent, optional BDI
- Week 8 Mid-point reflection
- Week 18 Veto review of projects
- Week 20 Graduation, roles chosen
Two time-zone windows
With fellows from Port-au-Prince to Kota Kinabalu, each lab runs twice at times pods choose.
Low bandwidth first
Audio-only counts fully. Teaching segments are recorded, testimony never is. Data stipends come from the Commons.
Blackouts never count against anyone
A missed session during a crisis is followed by a companion call, not a warning.
Any language
Labs run in English with peer interpretation; fellows speak and record in any language.
In person is optional
Regional hubs such as Amman, Islamabad, Kuala Lumpur or Sarajevo may host an immersive where safe. Nothing essential happens only there.
The BDI never decides who gets in
The Diagnostic's own manuals list selection, recruitment and ranking as not permitted uses, and note it has no predictive validity yet. So peers admit fellows on lived experience and commitment; the Diagnostic is taken afterwards, by choice, to compose pods and prompt reflection.
- Each pod of 6 includes at least three different closest personas and three regions.
- At least one Bridge Builder or Careful Navigator sits alongside one Frontline Builder or Community Anchor.
- Fellows who skip the Diagnostic are placed by their own description of how they work.
- No one is moved between pods against their wishes.
No passport, ID or legal status is needed to apply. Applications are accepted in any language, written or as a voice note, which honours Story Sovereignty from the first contact.
- 50%+
- stateless, refugee or undocumented fellows
- 4 of 6
- regions from the breadth map, at least
- 25%
- maximum share for any one nationality
- Balanced
- gender within each pod
Three entry pathways
Fellows choose one and can switch. A fellow may spend weeks simply being listened to before asking for anything, and that is never treated as a delay.
Narrator
Led by testimony: Story of Self to Story of Us, with archive consent settings the narrator controls.
Builder
Led by livelihoods: digital skills, remote work and mentoring toward self-sufficiency.
Steward
For diaspora and institution-adjacent fellows: hosting, references and bridging institutions, always under the Veto.
First cohort roles
| Role | Count | Drawn from |
|---|---|---|
| Fellows | 36 | Open call across the six regions |
| Pod companions | 6 | Amal and Volunteers for Palestine alumni |
| Veto Council | 7 | Fellows and alumni closest to the harms the cohort addresses, rotating |
| Care lead | 1 | Someone trained in secondary trauma, serving the volunteer circle |
| Program steward | 1 to 2 | Founding team, with no vote on Veto matters |
Every decision has an affected circle, and that circle can refuse it. Everyone else can only propose.
“The people closest to the harm hold final say over what help is allowed to look like.”
- A proposal names its purpose, resources, affected circle, and how that circle will judge success.
- The Veto Council confirms the affected circle within 48 hours, adding anyone missed.
- The proposal is shared in the circle's working languages, with time to read it.
- The circle consents, asks for changes, or vetoes. A veto needs no justification.
- A vetoed proposal can return once, rewritten with the circle, never repackaged around it.
- Every outcome goes into the public veto log: what was proposed, by whom, and the result.
The veto can refuse help; it can never exclude a person by nationality, passport or legal status.
- Testimony is kept in the dialect, pacing and detail it was given in. No edits for comfort.
- Each story carries an access level the narrator sets: private, pod, whole state or public.
- Fundraising, research or media use needs fresh consent each time, never blanket consent.
- A kin-safety review with the narrator checks whether a story could endanger relatives.
- Stories are stored encrypted, with location data removed, and never anywhere they cannot be deleted.
Register your interest
Tell us a little about yourself. Your details are stored securely so we can get in touch when there is more to share. This is not a formal application, and registering does not guarantee a place.