Fellowship for
Action Program

Are you passionate about the role of food in building a more just and sustainable world?

We want to support you to take your vision and turn it into real action.

Program Overview

The Fellowship for Action is for people who want to create real change in the way we grow, share, and experience food. Over 9 months you will work on your own food-related project, learning tools to design your intervention, navigate challenges and grow as a leader. The program combines personal development with practical action, helping you build clarity, confidence and momentum.

The Fellowship for Action is the right program for you, if you:

Want to understand the bigger picture of how food systems work – and where change is needed.
Are looking to clarify your role and develop a concrete initiative that makes a difference.
Believe that inner growth and relational skills are just as important as practical tools.
Are excited to join an international community where you can learn with and from others across cultures, sectors, and perspectives.
Are ready to engage your local community and take the first steps toward meaningful change.

Our fellowship program welcomes you no matter what your food background and helps you to:

Find a supportive, diverse community to learn and grow with.
Look at the food system in a deeper way to find the most effective levers for change.
Clarify your personal contribution and be guided through a journey to start taking action.
Build the relational and leadership skills needed to collaborate for change.

We are excited to bring together an inspiring cohort of aspiring social entrepreneurs, farmers, chefs, policy makers, creatives, activists, educators, administrators, social workers, development professionals… and many more.

Apply Now

Content Pillars

The program interweaves three pillars that build on each other and help your personal learning journey.

Explore what you will learn in each of the modules:

Transform Food Systems
Navigating food as a complex system - the why and where

Understand food as a complex system, build a toolkit to navigate it and explore possible responses.

Understand the role of diverse stakeholders, power relations and narratives for change.

Be inspired by innovative initiatives, networks and changemakers.

Own Your Contribution
Clarify your initiative -
the what, who and how

Deep dive into your subsystem / area of focus and experience new ways of problem framing.

Develop your initiative from soil to seedling through a facilitated process.

Build your custom toolkit to implement your intervention.

Embody Leadership
Experience the power of relational/ inner work to create lasting change

Build your personal toolkit to move from overwhelm to empowered and sustainable action.

Experience new and generative ways of relating to yourself, others and the world around you.

Learn practical skills for creating community and facilitating spaces of change.

Apply Now

Program Structure

The Fellowship for Action is a 9-month learning journey that includes an immersive in-person week in Switzerland to kick off the program, followed by 9 months of online learning, 1:1 coaching, project work and peer support. The program concludes with a second in-person week in Switzerland to come together to reflect, share and celebrate your learnings.

Learning Experience

The program’s approach is experiential, participatory, and rooted in systems thinking. It combines structure with flexibility to support meaningful, self-directed learning. The participants are active co-creators of their personal learning journey.

- Grounded in transformative education and experiential learning.
- Inspired by Theory U and awareness based systems change.
- Built around content shaped by participants' needs.
- Grounded in self-leadership, reflection, inner development and relational work.
- Supported by coaching, mentoring, and peer collaboration.
- Focused on implementation, practice and learning through doing.
You will be offered a lot of new content and inspiration in the program, but the emphasis will be on applying the theory, framework and tools to yourself and your work to take intentional action.
To design the program we have drawn on our many years of experience running education programs in food systems and leadership, weaving in tools from systems thinking, design thinking, awareness based systems change, art of hosting, authentic relating, emergent strategy, participatory leadership, liberating structures, and many more! You can expect a fun, engaging and transformational learning experience with plenty of space to customize according to your needs and context.
You can learn more about the structure and what to expect from the learning journey in the video here:
This video explains the program structure in more detail and gives you an outlook on what to look forward to on your learning journey.

Co-Learning in Community

You will be part of a diverse, international group of changemakers who share ideas, challenges, and support throughout the journey. Through regular peer exchanges, group learning sessions, and in-person intensives, you will build trust and a strong learning network. You will learn from each other’s experiences, celebrate progress, and create space for reflection and growth.

Personal Support

During the program you will be supported via 1:1 personal coaching sessions with your own personal and leadership development coach from our pool of integral coaches. The sessions will help you craft your own development journey during the program. You will also have access to a range of mentors who can support you on the practical side to move your initiative forward.

Apply Now

On-Site Immersion Week in Switzerland

The fellowship program begins and ends with a unique opportunity - the chance to spend a week together on an organic farm in Switzerland, living, working and learning together. In the first one week intensive, you will meet your fellow participants, start thinking about the design of your learning journey and initiative, dive into food systems and explore your contribution.

The program is hosted on a biodynamic farm and learning center called Gut Rheinau and includes excursions to meet inspirational food initiatives and changemakers.

The second week intensive will be a chance to showcase your learnings and pack your toolkit for life post program!

Testimonials

“I have done so many different incubator, catalyst and leadership programs. While they all offer something useful, I have not found one that really combines a food systems focus with specific support that helps you build community and get momentum. This program sounds like it fills these gaps and I am excited to partner and share my learnings and experience to help serve these changemakers in a way that will be really impactful for them.”

Nicola Gryczka
Co-Founder Social Gastronomy

“As my organisation is trying to do things differently, I find it really challenging to get the support to develop it in a different way. I do not fit into the usual start up incubator or accelerator schemes, and it is hard to find others trying to work differently. This sounds like exactly the type of program that I would have needed when starting out.”

Roseline Remans
Founder Gloco-Learning

"What I really appreciate about the approach of the fellowship program is the support for participants to navigate food systems and explore their contribution without getting overwhelmed. It's a tough field to work in, it's hard to stay motivated, so I like how the program helps them build a support community and implement ideas that feel relevant and impactful. It's very easy to lose sight of the vision when everything around you seems so negative and destructive, and it seems like this program will help them create/develop lasting possibilities and maintain a sense of hope.”

Maya Ladner
Program Director MSc in Preneurship for Regenerative Food Systems

Program Details

Dates

The program begins online on October 13th 2025 and ends at the end of August 2026. The first intensive week in Switzerland will take place from 26th October - 2nd November 2025. The second intensive week in Switzerland will take place from the 9th - 15th August 2026.

Costs

The program fee is listed below. Additionally, participants need to cover their own travel costs for the two one week intensives in Zurich, Switzerland This is why there is a difference in price between the Swiss and international fees.

A limited number of scholarships are available - please indicate your need for a scholarship, and what you are able to contribute towards the participation fee, in the application form.

EARLY BIRD

Swiss Applicants: 2'900 CHF/ International Applicants: 2'400 CHF
Deadline: 9 July 2025

STANDARD

Swiss Applicants: 3,400 CHF/ International Applicants: 2'900 CHF
Deadline: 31 August 2025

Please note - the deadline for applicants requesting a scholarship is 9 July 2025.

Requirements

The Fellowship for Action is open to anyone 21 years of age or older with a demonstrated interest in food-related challenges and creating change. Participation is open to individuals with any professional and educational background, however, some working experience is expected. To participate, you should be comfortable communicating in English, documenting your work, and navigating online tools and spaces. You will need a good internet connection and an infrastructure to work collaboratively online. You will be expected to join both one-week intensive weeks in Switzerland of the program.

If the program appeals to you but you're not sure if you meet all the criteria, please don't hesitate to contact us - we are happy to explore it with you.

Where you may be now

The program is designed to support you to move from an initial calling to work in this area, or the start of an idea, into action. Right now you might:

Have the start of an idea or a question that is calling you and want to design and start implementing it
Aspire to take your skills and knowledge and apply it to changing our food system, but you are working out where your contribution could be
Work inside an organization already active in the food system and want to create change from the inside out
See new innovations, approaches or initiatives to transform our food system, but need help to shape your personal contribution
Are currently shaping your idea or initiative, but feel stuck or overwhelmed by the complexity of the system and want to understand more

Application Process

How to apply

To apply, please fill out the application form and upload your supporting documents. We kindly ask you to prepare three things: your CV, your story and your video/voice note:

Your CV (in PDF form) should be max. one page and shows your professional and educational background at a glance.
For your personal story, we invite you to share the story (max. one page) of how you got involved with food and why you are looking to make a contribution in this space. We are looking for an honest and personal story here, something that only you, not AI, could write :).
For your video/voice note (max. one minute), we invite you to imagine that it is the last day of the program. Describe to us what you hope you are thinking, feeling and acting in that moment of closing the program and looking forward. We would love to learn more about your dream outcome and how that affects you as a person.

Deadline

We accept applications on a rolling basis until the program is filled. We strongly recommend applying early to confirm your place. The deadline for applications to receive the early bird rate is 9 July 2025. The final deadline for all applications is 31 August 2025. If you would like to request a scholarship, please note that scholarships applications close on 9 July 2025.

Apply Now

Frequently Asked Questions

The program will run for 10 months from October 2025 to August 2026 and is divided in three parts: (1) It launches with a one-week intensive in Zürich, Switzerland (26th October - 2nd November2025) where you meet your fellow participants and the team. (2) This is followed by an online period of 9 months with regular group calls, expert inputs and 1:1 coaching sessions where you remotely develop your project in your local context. (3) The program will be closed with another one-week intensive in Zürich, Switzerland (9th - 15th August 2026) to celebrate your learning journeys and present them to a wider audience.
You don’t need a developed project to apply - you might have an idea or a direction you’re passionate about.. Or you are still trying to figure out where you can best make your contribution. The program is designed to support you in identifying your subsystem and context, in developing and refining your idea and providing the tools to step into action to implement it This is, however, not a start-up incubator program.
The program is offered in a combined in person and online format. The two one-week intensives at the beginning and the end of the program are in person in Switzerland, combined with a longer period of 9 months of online learning. This will allow you to work in your local context while still interacting and learning from a diverse, global cohort of participants.
The program includes topics of three interrelated pillars: (1) Food systems and food system transformation, (2) Developing your intervention, initiative or project and (3) leadership development and inner work.
The program is designed so that you can participate beside your regular work. In general, you can work through the material in approximately 2-3 hours per week. Additionally, you are expected to make space for two one-week intensives in Zürich, Switzerland. In those two weeks you are asked to not have any other commitments outside of the program.
You will join a supportive group of peers with regular online meetings, 1:1 coaching, and opportunities to learn from each other - helping you stay engaged and motivated. During the two intensive in-person weeks, you will build strong connections that will support you along the way. The program is designed to provide both structure and flexibility to fit around your existing commitments.
If you are accepted into the program, we can provide you with an official letter of invitation to support your visa application. While we cannot guarantee visa approval or cover visa costs, we will offer support where we can. Please contact us in case you need support.
Accommodation, meals and transportation during the one-week intensives are included in the participation fee. However, you will need to pay for your own travel to and from Zürich, potentially your visa application and you need to factor in any other personal expenses such as insurance, snacks, souvenirs or transportation outside the official program.
A limited number of scholarships are available to cover a portion of the program fee. These will be considered on a case-by-case basis after you submit your application. The deadline to apply for scholarships is 9 July 2025 (early bird deadline).
Full participation in both on-site intensives is required of all participants. We recognize that this is a significant commitment, but these weeks are essential for building the supportive cohort and experiential learning journey that define our program.
To participate in the program, you will need a stable internet connection, a computer or tablet with a camera and microphone, and access to basic video conferencing tools like Zoom. We will be using shared online platforms (such as Google Drive or Miro) for collaboration, so a modern browser and a quiet place to make calls will help you get the most out of the experience. No special software or advanced technical skills are required - just the basics and a willingness to participate.
We welcome participants who are 21 or older, have a demonstrated interest in food system challenges and creating change, and have prior work experience. Participants should be open to learning and collaboration and able to communicate in English. They must also be able to attend both intensive weeks in Switzerland and actively participate online.
Having a fully developed project idea isn't required; what matters most is your curiosity, commitment, and genuine interest. The documentation you submit with your application is your opportunity to demonstrate what makes you a unique candidate.
Yes, you can reapply for another year in case you are not selected.
Please get in touch with us on any special needs or concerns via the contact form on the website. We are happy to see if and how we can best accommodate them.
After the program ends, you are invited to initiate the FoodHaus Fellowship Alumni Network to stay connected with your fellow participants, access ongoing support and resources, and collaborate with the community and partners on future projects and opportunities.
This program helps you work at the interface of both inner and outer work. You will get support to work on a concrete initiative in the food system, and additionally get leadership support to bring this to life.
The programs at The Great Full, such as Be the Change and Lead the Change, have a focus on the inner, relational and leadership work, and are for women working in food systems, sustainability or regeneration fields more broadly. In these programs there is no support to develop your project in food systems, the emphasis is rather on your own personal, leadership and relational development.
The Fellowship program will explore some of the same, but mostly different, tools for inner work than those that are covered in Be the Change and Lead the Change.

Program Facilitators

Michelle Grant is a facilitator, leadership coach, food systems educator, author and podcast host. She is the founder of The Great Full, where she works at the intersection of food systems, leadership development, and transformational change. With a multidisciplinary background in, research, education and practice for sustainable food systems, she now works at the interface of inner and outer change to support a more just, joyful and generative future on our planet.
In her previous role, she was the founding Executive Director of the World Food System Center at ETH Zurich and served on the Swiss National Committee to the UN FAO.

Michelle Grant

The Great Full

Toya Bezzola

Food of Change

Toya Bezzola is a social entrepreneur and food system consultant that loves to collaborate in the «spaces in between». With a background in international hospitality, research and design, she brings a multidisciplinary lens to her projects. She is the founder of Food of Change GmbH,, has co-founded an urban farm and is co-president of Slow Food Switzerland. In previous roles, Toya has worked at the intersection of gastronomy, education and sustainability - from food tourism to community-based change initiatives. Her professional home is the restaurant industry, where she worked for 2 years in the noma restaurant, among others.

Katalin Hausel

Collaboratio Helvetica

Katalin Hausel leads the Catalyst Lab at Collaboratio Helvetica, applying her background in art and education to design transformative learning spaces. With years of experience leading social and organizational change, she supports changemakers through mentoring and facilitation.