Deadline: September 18, 2026
Applications are open for the WomenLift Health Southern Africa Leadership Journey 2027. The fully funded, 12-month WomenLift Health Southern Africa Leadership Journey is designed to provide talented women leaders in health with the safe space to explore their authentic leadership through vulnerability and reflection, an inclusive and diverse network which fosters a strong sense of belonging, tools and strategies for enhancing their voice, presence, and influence – all the while being supported by a powerful group of peers, mentors, and coaches.
The program imparts contextualized tools and frameworks to address the individual, institutional, health sector challenges that women leaders in global health face today. Participants engage in two in-person experiential learning residencies (Immersion and Lift-Off), in addition to virtual learning touchpoints, virtual group mentoring, virtual one-on-one coaching sessions, and importantly, a self-directed Health Leadership Project – all the while being supported by their Leadership Journey community and experts in the health sector.
Costs
- The program is free (all program costs, including travel and lodging, are covered.)
Eligibility
- You are eligible for consideration if you meet all the following criteria:
- Identify as a woman
- Demonstrate fluency and confidence in both written and verbal English communication. This includes the ability to articulate emotions, participate in reflective dialogue, engage in complex interpersonal conversations, and integrate leadership development concepts throughout the Journey
- Are a citizen who resides and works within the following country/countries: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, eSwatini, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
- Live in CAT (+/-1 hour) time zones for at least 75% of the program as they believe time zone compatibility is essential to your ability to participate at the touchpoints and to engage with your peers within and outside of the sessions
- Are a mid-career leader with 10–25 years of work experience in health++. WomenLift Health defines Health++ as the recognition that sustainable improvements in health require coordinated action across interconnected fields that shape and enable health such as climate change, food systems, agriculture, water and sanitation, education, economic policy, gender equity, and technology
- WomenLift Health is committed to selecting diverse cohort members, representing different sectors (public, private, academia, NGO, philanthropy), disciplines, and cultural backgrounds, etc.
Application
The in-person residencies involving travel include the three-day Immersion (13-16 April 2027), including travel days on 12 April and 17 April and the two-day Lift-Off (14-15 March 2028), including travel days on 13 March and 16 March). The location of the in-person residencies will be communicated to the cohort members closer to the event dates but will be in Southern Africa.
For more information, visit WomenLift Health Southern Africa Leadership Journey.
