The African Young Women Leaders Fellowship Programme offers an interesting 12-month assignment with UNDP at its HQ in New York or in one of its regional or country offices.
The AfYWL Fellowship Programme is a partnership under the framework of the AUC Chairperson’s One Million Next Level Initiative, which aims to provide opportunities for African youth in the key areas of Education, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Engagement, and mainstream youth and women in key development spaces. This exciting partnership aims to build a new generation of young African women leaders and experts to serve Africa and the world in designing and implementing development programmes in the context of the SDGs and Agenda 2063. The Fellowship Programme will explore different areas of development within the six strategic impact areas of UNDP’s Renewed Strategic Offer in Africa: Natural Resource Governance; Youth and Women’s Employment and Empowerment; Structural Economic Transformation; Sustainable Energy; Climate Change; and Peace and Security.
They are looking for up to 40 talented young African women to join the fourth cohort of this 12-month fellowship programme. As an AfYWL Fellow you will be assigned with a UNDP office under a learning and development programme. You will embark on a journey where you will need to demonstrate agility and adaptability to an environment and an assignment where your skills and potential will be leveraged. Applicants should be ready to accept any location offered in either HQ, Country or Regional office (no hardship locations).
Responsibilities
Key areas of responsibilities may include:
Collection and analysis of data and research on SDGs and Agenda 2063;
Experimentation on promising areas of innovation around the six impact areas of UNDP’s Renewed Strategic Offer in Africa;
Drafting research papers, reports and presentations;
Participating in internal and external meetings and conferences;
Supporting the implementation of projects and initiatives on gender, youth, climate change, resilience and security among others;
Participating in field missions as required;
Providing support and liaising with government officials and various stakeholders.
Eligibility
Applicants must have completed Master’s degree or equivalent in Economics, Political Science, Business Administration, International Relations/Development, Law, Communications, Digitalization or other related development field.
Maximum cumulative two years (post bachelor/postmaster degree) of relevant and paid working experience in research, analysis and programme/project development, implementation and management.
Strong working knowledge of English is required.
Proficiency in at least one additional AU working language (Arabic, English, French, Portuguese or Spanish) is an advantage.
Female candidates accepted only.
National of an African Union member state.
Maximum age of 30 at the date of application.
Available in 2025/2026 to dedicate 12 months for a fellowship assignment.
Available late 2025 to relocate to duty station and start the Fellowship assignment.
Willing to live and work outside country of residence on an assignment which leverages on your skills & potential.
Understanding of, and interest in, poverty eradication, sustainable structural transformation, the SDGs and Agenda 2063.
Capacity to gather comprehensive information on complex problems or situations, and ability to evaluate and analyze information accurately in order to identify key issues and solutions.
Additional expertise and background in digital transformation, strategic partnerships and communications, development intelligence and innovation will also be considered.
Benefits
Each fellow will receive a monthly stipend to support accommodation and basic living costs at their respective duty station. In addition, paid leave and an earmarked learning budget will be allocated for undertaking relevant learning and development activities.
The Fellowship programme will cover expenses related to travel and medical insurance for the fellow only. Note that the Fellowship Programme does not cover allowances, or any expenses related to your family members (travel, visa, schooling, health insurance, etc.).
Application Process
To initiate your application, you will need:
Copies of your Passports for upload. If you do not hold a passport, a copy of your national ID can be uploaded. If you hold multiple nationalities, upload copies of all passports/ national IDs.
Copies of your academic degrees (tertiary education/ Master and Bachelor from duly accredited higher education institution for upload).
