Deadline: January 28, 2022
Applications are open for the Ashinaga Africa Initiative 2022. The Ashinaga Africa Initiative (AAI) is an international leadership program that cultivates the next generation of leaders to contribute to the development of sub-Saharan Africa.
The Ashinaga Africa Initiative began in 2014. Its mission is to contribute to sub-Saharan Africa’s expanding role in global development through increasing access to higher education abroad. They support orphaned students who are committed to returning home and initiating change, by providing access to full financial support to study at a university abroad (equivalent to an undergraduate degree).
Benefits
- The AAI provides access to full financial support to study at university abroad (equivalent to an undergraduate degree), including tuition, room, travel costs and other necessary fees.
Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Have lost one or both parents.
- Have completed secondary school and received the results of their national secondary school examination (technical and vocational degrees not accepted) within the last two years (any date after August 2, 2019 including all of 2020 and 2021) or will have completed secondary school and received final exam results before February 28, 2022.
- Be born after September 1, 1999.
- Not have the means to attend university abroad without external financial support.
- Be proficient in English, French or Portuguese.
- Be regularly ranked in the top 10% of their class during their last 2 or 3 years of secondary school.
- Be able to participate in the two Ashinaga preparatory programs, over the course of one year, before attending university.
- Be committed to return home, or to Sub-Saharan Africa, and contribute to society in Sub-Saharan Africa after graduating from university.
- Have no dependents who could interfere with academic progress.
- Have a good enough health condition to be able to study abroad.
Eligible Countries
Applicants must have citizenship and have completed/are completing high school in one of the following countries:
Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, CAR, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, DRC, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Kenya, Kingdom of eSwatini, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Seychelles, Sudan, Tanzania, The Gambia, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Selection Process
Applications for all countries will be assessed after the application deadline, and successful applicants will be invited to a final assessment. During this assessment, Ashinaga conducts individual interviews and sets an examination to better understand students’ academic abilities and career goals in Sub-Saharan Africa. Students must bring all original academic documents and identification documents to the interview. Failure to do so may result in dismissal from the application process.
Application
There are two stages to the Ashinaga Africa Initiative application process:
- Applicant Registration: all applicants must first confirm their eligibility by registering for the program. Only students who register for the program and are deemed eligible will receive the application form by email. Each decision about an applicant’s eligibility is based on the criteria outlined above and their academic record. AAI’s expectations for the academic record of an applicant reflects the academic level they expect students to have in order thrive as part of their intensive leadership progra.
- Application: all students who register for the program will receive an email with a link to the application form within 1 month of their registration if they are eligible for the program.
The application deadline is Midnight GMT Friday 28th January 2022. The deadline for applicants from Lusophone countries (Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe and Mozambique) is Midnight GMT Friday, October 15, 2021.
For more information, visit Ashinaga Africa Initiative.
