Deadline: November 2, 2015
Applications are now open for the 2016 Akili Dada Fellowship program. Akili Dada awards year fellowships to young African women leaders who are driving transformative change in their communities and are looking to grow their projects to scale and sustainability. The Akili Dada Fellowship is an opportunity for young African women running social impact projects and enterprises to learn essential skills and apply those skills to address the challenges faced by their communities.
About Akili Dada
Akili Dada is an international award-winning leadership incubator nurturing a generation of young African women from underprivileged backgrounds whose commitment to the underserved will transform their communities. Their leadership development curriculum creates the foundation on which young women ages 13-35 build their skills and earn the essential qualifications they need to access key decision-making roles and leadership positions.
Fellowship Benefits
Akili Dada fellows will benefit from
- Access to a series of seminars from experts in the social change field
- Site visits to successful social entrepreneurship and social impact organizations
- Access to a dynamic network of Akili Dada Mentors
- Access to the Akili Dada network of funding partners and social change agents
- Access to Akili Dada’s office facilities.
On completion of the year long program, fellows will possess the skills and resources required to lead a strong, healthy, accountable and sustainable organization that are bringing about measurable social change in their communities.
Eligibility
- Be a young woman between the ages of 23-30
- Be from an economically disadvantaged background.
- Have a Social Enterprise (a business with a social impact) or a Social Innovation (an initiative that has social impact).
- Demonstrate previous leadership initiative and experience.
- Have been working on your project for at least two years preferably on a full time basis
- Be able to commit one year to the fellowship program (beginning January 2016 and ending December 2016)
- Be able to attend trainings every other month for one week in Nairobi, Kenya
- Must be able to communicate in English both written and verbal.
Young women from marginalized communities (women living with disabilities, pastoralists, Arid and Semi-Arid Land areas) are encouraged to apply
Selection Criteria
Fellows will be selected on the basis of
- The strength of their social change project
- Previous leadership initiative
- Willingness to learn from peers and more experienced mentors
- The ability to share their skills with peers and intended project beneficiaries
**All fellows need to have deep roots in the communities they seek to transform and be from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Selection is NOT based on past academic performance or qualifications
Young women engaged in social entrepreneurship in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi) are encouraged to apply.
How to Apply
- Complete the application form here
- Submit two Letters of Recommendation from persons who are well acquainted with you, your commitment to social change work, demonstrated leadership initiative and experience, and your connection to the community where you intend to implement your fellowship project
- Completed applications can be submitted via our website or sent via e-mail to [email protected] by Monday, November 2nd 2015.
**Proposal and letters of recommendation may be scanned and sent as e-mail attachments, or may be mailed separately. If you choose to mail a hard copy to Akili Dada, use the following address:
For more information, visit Akili Dada Fellowship.
