African Union Digital and Innovation Fellowship: Applications are invited from suitably qualified African graduates for the AU Digital and Innovation Fellowship 2022/2023 which aims at identifying and deploying highly competent tech innovators to African Union Headquarters.
The fellowship will provide a platform for the innovators to identify challenges within the organs of the African Union and propose solutions to these challenges. The program seeks to facilitate conditions for building the internal capacity of the host African Union organs in the long term.
Fellowship Sponsor(s): African Union (AU)
Host Institution(s): African Union Headquarters
Number of Awards: Not specified
Study Level: Graduate
Duration: 12 months
Nationality: Africans
See Also: African Union, African Youth Ambassadors for Peace Program 2021/22
African Union Digital and Innovation Fellowship | Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for the Digital and Innovation Fellowship, applicants must ensure to meet the following requirements:
- Be based in Africa and must be a National of an African Union member state;
- Be under the age of 34 prior to the time of application;
- Hold a tertiary education degree or its equivalent;
- Have the capacity to gather comprehensive information on complex problems or situations, and the ability to evaluate and analyze information accurately in order to identify key issues and proffer solutions;
- Have experience and technical know-how in designing innovative technology products/solutions;
- Be available to travel in late October 2021 to participate in an induction workshop during the AfriLabs Annual Gathering in Abuja, Nigeria;
- Be available and willing to dedicate 12 months from November 2021 to September 2022. Fellows will be required to take a break from current obligations and relocate to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in November 2021.
- Applicants who speak more than one AU official language (Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili) are strongly advised to apply.
Benefits
- Participate in several capacity building training that will be facilitated by top experts from the African innovation ecosystem.
- Receive mentorship support from experienced industry experts drawn from the AfriLabs community.
- Network and benefit from several peer-to-peer learning opportunities.
- Receive monthly stipends throughout the period of the Fellowship.
- Embark on several all-expense-paid trips to ecosystem events, onboarding/offboarding, study/learning tour, etc.
- Attend a grand graduation ceremony where certificates will be awarded to fellows.
- Be recognized as a fellow/alumni of the African Union Digital and Innovation Fellowship Program.
Apply for: African Development Bank (AfDB) African Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenge (Funding Available)
Application Procedures
How-to-Apply: The African Union Digital and Innovation Fellowship application is open to all eligible applicants and the selection process is completely merit-based. Interested applicants are to apply online on or before the application deadline.
Stage 1: At the close of the application window, all eligible applications will be assessed by independent reviewers and 30 top scorers will be picked for the next stage of the selection process as finalists.
Stage 2: Finalists will undergo rounds of interviews by the AU departments/organs and the best 10 will be confirmed as fellows. Selected fellows will be mandated to attend the Fellows Induction Workshop at the 2021 AfriLabs Annual Gathering holding in Abuja Nigeria in October and a virtual pre-deployment training before traveling to Addis Ababa and to be deployed to the AU departments/organs in November.
Application Deadline: 4th October 2021