The African Union (AU) Digital and Innovation Fellowship 2021 is now open for African youth innovators to apply.
The innovation fellowship is for a duration of 12 months, for graduates in Africa, and is sponsored by the African Union.
The aim of the fellowship is to identify and deploy highly competent tech innovators within Africa (as resident fellows) to arms within the African Union Headquarters, and also provide a platform for them to identify challenges within the arms of the African Union and propose solutions to the challenges.
Fellows will be expected to build and co-create innovative and custom-made processes and products that will improve the delivery of the mandate of the AU with regards to good governance and citizens engagement.
In addition, the program seeks to facilitate conditions for building the internal capacity of the host African Union arms in the long run.
The fellowship program is executed through GIZ DataCipation program by the BMZ Commission which assists the African Union and its arms to improve its mandate on citizens engagement.
The DataCipation adopts a series of interventions and mechanisms to provide implementation and advisory support to the African Union to engage African citizens in the execution of its mandate. This means DataCipation aims at providing support to the AU to execute a Digital and Innovation Fellowship Program.
Benefits of the Fellowship Program
- Go on various all-expenses-paid study/learning tours, trips to ecosystem events, onboarding/offboarding, etc.
- Opportunity to network and benefit from various peer-to-peer learning programs
- Get mentorship support from industry experts from the AfriLabs community
- Be part of an elaborate graduation ceremony where fellows will be awarded certificates
- Get monthly stipends throughout the fellowship period
- Take part in various capacity-building training which will be facilitated by top experts from the African innovation space
- Recognition as a fellow/alumni of the African Union Digital and Innovation Fellowship Program
Eligibility Requirements
- Must be based in Africa and be a National of an African Union member state
- Must be under the age of 34 prior to the time of application
- Must hold a tertiary education degree or its equivalent
- Applicants who speak more than one official language of the AU (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Swahili, and Portuguese) are greatly advised to apply
- Must be capable of gathering comprehensive information on complex situations or problems, and must be able to accurately evaluate and analyze information for the purpose of identifying key issues and proffering solutions
- Must have experience and technical know-how in designing innovative technology products/solutions
- Must be available to travel and take part in an induction workshop at the AfriLabs Annual Gathering in Abuja, Nigeria, in late October of 2021
- Fellows will be required to suspend current obligations and relocate to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in November 2021, and must be available and willing to dedicate 12 months from November 2021 to September 2022
Application and selection process
The selection process or the innovation fellowship is completely merit-based, and the application is open to all eligible applicants.
The selection process will be as follows:
Stage 1: All eligible applications will be assessed by independent reviewers at the close of the application window, and 30 top scorers will be picked for the next stage of the selection process as finalists.
Stage 2: The best 10 finalists will be confirmed as fellows after undergoing series of interviews by the AU departments/arms. Selected fellows must 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/arms in November.
How to apply
Interested in the innovation fellowship program? Apply here. The deadline for application is Monday, October 4, 2021.
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