Deadline: 12-Mar-23

The Mawazo Institute is seeking applications for its 2023 Mawazo Fellowship Programme. This non-residential fellowship is aimed at African women pursuing their PhD studies in any field at accredited universities in Africa.

The goal of the programme is to build a network of African women experts who are poised to influence policy and public discourse in academia and beyond, increasing the application and implementation of practical, evidence-based ideas that will drive Africa’s development.

This programme supports African women PhD students from across the continent working on emerging development issues and provides them with:

• virtual, on-demand training,
• mentorship, and
• access to funding that supports research activities, conference travel, research translation, and cross-sector collaborations.

Themetic Areas

• While all eligible PhD students are more than welcome to apply, they encourage applications from those working in the following thematic areas:
  • Agriculture and Food Security
  • Business, Trade, and the Economy
  • Climate Change, Natural Resources, and the Environment
  • Education and Pedagogy
  • Energy and Engineering
  • Gender, Rights, and Governance
  • Information and Technology
  • Life and Health Sciences
  • Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

Benefits

• Mawazo Fellows will receive the following benefits:
  • Participation in Mawazo’s in-house virtual training and professional development programme, offered through the Mawazo Learning Exchange (MLEx) e-learning platform
  • Connections to expert and peer mentors through a structured mentorship programme, as well as exposure to leaders from academia, industry, government and other sectors
  • Funding for research activities with access to grants worth up to US$2,500
  • A stipend worth $500 for discretionary use
  • Data bundles worth $150 to help access the MLEx platform
  • Research and editorial support from the Mawazo team and their partners
  • Visibility via Mawazo Voices, their public policy and engagement, strategic communications, and strategic partnerships programme.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to be eligible for the Mawazo Fellowship Programme, applicants must:
  • Be a woman (woman/women includes cisgender women and transgender women. They also welcome Assigned Female At Birth (AFAB) non-binary, AFAB gender non-conforming, other AFAB genderqueer individuals, who have historically been excluded from decision-making spaces)
  • Be a citizen of an African country
  • Have good command of written and spoken English
  • Be enrolled for their PhD at an accredited university in an African country
  • Have completed their course work (if applicable) and passed their departmental or graduate school proposal defence (i.e., in the dissertation/thesis phase of their PhD)
  • Demonstrate that their PhD research is related to African development and is relevant to a global, regional, national or subnational policy priority
  • Demonstrate that they have a “Big Idea” to transform Africa through their research ( By ”Big Idea” they mean an innovative research-based solution to help address Africa’s emerging societal challenges)
  • Demonstrate potential for leadership both within and outside academia, and a strong passion to leverage their expertise for impact in society
  • Be available to fully participate in the programme in 2023-2024.

For more information, visit Mawazo Fellowship Programme.