Apply Now: 2025 African Young Women Leaders (AfYWL) Fellowship Programme – Fully Funded

In Summary

Location: UNDP at Headquarters in New York or in a regional or nation workplace (No hardship obligation stations). Salary: Monthly stipend to assist lodging and primary residing prices

Job Description

We invite you to apply to the AUC-UNDP African Young Women Leaders (AfYWL) Fellowship Programme – a partnership between the African Union Commission and the United Nations Development Programme.

The African Young Women Leaders Fellowship Programme provides an fascinating 12-month task with UNDP at its HQ in New York or in considered one of its regional or nation workplaces. There can be no placement in hardship areas.

The AfYWL Fellowship Programme:

• Do you need to work to advance the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063?
• Do you need to contribute in direction of youth empowerment and employment, gender equality and ladies empowerment, strategic communications and partnerships, and South-South Cooperation to unleash the event potential of Africa?
• Do you need to develop your expertise and be part of a brand new era of worldwide leaders?
• Do you imagine within the potential of younger girls in driving transformational change?
• Are you in a position to mainstream youth priorities and gender in improvement?

The UN Development Programme works in some 170 international locations and territories, serving to to realize the eradication of poverty and the discount of inequalities and exclusion. UNDP helps international locations to develop insurance policies, management expertise, partnering skills, institutional capabilities and construct resilience to maintain improvement outcomes. UNDP helps the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they assist form international sustainable improvement for the following 15 years.

The AfYWL Fellowship Programme is a partnership below the framework of the AUC Chairperson’s 1 Million Next Level Initiative, which goals to supply alternatives for African youth in the important thing areas of Education, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Engagement, and mainstream youth and ladies in key improvement areas. This thrilling partnership goals to construct a brand new era of younger African girls leaders and consultants to serve Africa and the world in designing and implementing improvement programmes within the context of the SDGs and Agenda 2063. The Fellowship Programme will discover totally different areas of improvement throughout the six strategic affect areas of UNDP’s Renewed Strategic Offer in Africa: 1) Natural Resource Governance; 2) Youth and Women’s Employment and Empowerment; 3) Structural Economic Transformation; 4) Sustainable Energy; 5) Climate Change; and 6) Peace and Security.

We are searching for as much as 40 proficient younger African girls to affix the fourth cohort of this 12-month fellowship programme. As an AfYWL Fellow you’ll be assigned with a UNDP workplace below a studying and improvement programme. You will embark on a journey the place you will have to display agility and adaptableness to an setting and an task the place your expertise and potential can be leveraged. Applicants needs to be prepared to just accept any location provided in both HQ, Country or Regional workplace (no hardship areas).

We are searching for engaged younger African girls who embrace UNDP’s values:
– Integrity
– Accountability
– Transparency
– Professionalism
– Mutual Respect
– Results Orientation (Through Principled Performance)

The Fellowship task is conditioned upon a relocation to the obligation station of task, we can be unable to accommodate distant Fellowship work preparations. There can be no chance for extension of the Fellowship task past the 12 months.

Each fellow will obtain a month-to-month stipend to assist lodging and primary residing prices at their respective obligation station. In addition, paid go away and an earmarked studying price range can be allotted for endeavor related studying and improvement actions.

The Fellowship programme will cowl bills associated to journey and medical insurance coverage for the man solely. Please observe that the Fellowship Programme doesn’t cowl allowances, or any bills associated to your loved ones members (journey, visa, education, medical health insurance, and many others.).

Supervision
As part of the AfYWL Fellowship Programme, the fellows will profit from the next supervision modalities:

• Joint structured induction programme facilitated by UNDP and AUC.
• Structured steering and mentoring offered by the supervisor/ UNDP People Manager.
• Establishment of a piece plan with clear key outcomes and deliverables.
• Effective supervision by way of information sharing and efficiency/improvement suggestions all through the task.
• Participation in Unit/Team/Office conferences to make sure integration and operational effectiveness.
• Guidance and profession recommendation in relation to studying and profession development alternatives throughout the discipline of experience.

Duties, Responsibilities and Expected Outputs
Key areas of obligations might embrace:
1) Collection and evaluation of knowledge and analysis on SDGs and Agenda 2063;
2) Experimentation on promising areas of innovation across the six affect areas of UNDP’s Renewed Strategic Offer in Africa;
3) Drafting analysis papers, reviews and displays;
4) Participating in inner and exterior conferences and conferences;
5) Supporting the implementation of initiatives and initiatives on gender, youth, local weather change, resilience and safety amongst others;
6) Participating in discipline missions as required;
7) Providing assist and liaising with authorities officers and varied stakeholders.

Training and Learning
As part of the fellowship task, the man will profit from the next coaching and studying alternatives:

• Participation in a joint induction/ management coaching workshop in late 2025 or early 2026 developed by AUC and UNDP (prices lined).
• Access to an earmarked studying price range for related studying/improvement actions.
• Participation in common mentorship by senior AUC and UNDP employees.
• Participation in tailor-made studying and group occasions concentrating on UNDP Young Professionals
• Support from UNDP on different company studying and improvement actions.

In addition, the Fellow will profit from the related coaching and studying modalities/alternatives provided within the receiving workplace.

Competencies
1. Reflection – Think Innovatively: Open to artistic concepts/identified dangers, is pragmatic drawback solver, makes enhancements
2. Action – Achieve Results: Plans and displays personal work, pays consideration to particulars, delivers high quality work by deadline
3. Interaction – Engage and Partner: Demonstrates compassion/understanding in direction of others, varieties optimistic relationships
4. Self-Management – Act with Determination: Shows drive and motivation, in a position to ship calmly in face of adversity, assured

Eligibility Criteria
Education:

• Completed Master’s diploma or equal in Economics, Political Science, Business Administration, International Relations/Development, Law, Communications, Digitalization or different associated improvement discipline.

Experience:

• Maximum cumulative two years (submit bachelor/postmaster diploma) of related and paid working expertise in analysis, evaluation and programme/undertaking improvement, implementation and administration. 

Language Requirements:

• Strong working information of English is required
• Proficiency in at the very least one further AU working language (Arabic, English, French, Portuguese or Spanish) is a bonus

Additional Criteria:

• Female candidates accepted solely
• National of an African Union member state
• Maximum Age of 30 on the date of application.
• Available in 2025/2026 to dedicate 12 months for a fellowship task.
• Available late 2025 to relocate to obligation station and begin the Fellowship task.
• Willing to dwell and work outdoors nation of residence on an task which leverages in your expertise & potential.
• Understanding of, and curiosity in, poverty eradication, sustainable structural transformation, the SDGs and Agenda 2063.
• Capacity to assemble complete data on complicated issues or conditions, and skill to judge and analyze data precisely with a view to establish key points and options.
• Additional experience and background in digital transformation, strategic partnerships and communications, improvement intelligence and innovation can even be thought-about.

Application Procedure
You are required to submit your application in English. Please observe the APPLY Link above to provoke your application.

During the application course of you’ll be taken by way of totally different levels of evaluation and choice. Hereunder, you need to be available to supply the required data and materials requested enabling the AfYWL Recruitment staff to evaluation and assess your application.

To provoke your application you will have: 

• Copies of your Passports for add. If you don’t maintain a passport, a replica of your nationwide ID will be uploaded. If you maintain a number of nationalities, please add copies of all passports/ nationwide IDs.
• Copies of your tutorial levels (tertiary schooling/ Master and Bachelor from duly accredited increased schooling establishment for add).

Applications that don’t meet the eligibility standards or don’t embrace the requested paperwork won’t be taken into additional consideration. Please be additionally suggested that failure to supply paperwork requested in every stage of the method throughout the specified deadlines will end in disqualification from the choice course of.

The application process will bear the next levels:
Stage 1: Upon preliminary evaluation of your eligibility, you might be invited to submit further data to assist your application.
Stage 2: Candidates below additional consideration can be invited to an on-line take a look at with the target to check your competencies and cognitive skills.  
Stage 3: Should you be thought-about following profitable completion of the take a look at, you’ll be invited for an evaluation and self -recorded video consisting of:
a. Technical evaluation: Presentation of a improvement drawback.
b. Competency primarily based evaluation.
c. Assessment of your listed language expertise
Stage 4: A closing analysis of your submitted self-recorded video interview can be carried out as the ultimate stage of your application course of by a UNDP Evaluation Panel. Successful and totally advisable candidates can be included in a closing roster thought-about for the out there AfYWL Fellowship placements at a location/task decided by UNDP. This stage is predicted to be concluded by finish of August 2025.
Stage 5: The location of task can be decided by way of a closing matching train the place candidate profiles can be matched towards task profiles/obligation stations and probably the most appropriate match is recognized.
Stage 6: Candidates below closing consideration could also be invited for a follow-up interview with the internet hosting workplace in UNDP Headquarters, regional or nation workplace. Offers to affix the 4th Cohort of African Young Women Leaders Fellowship Programme together with the placement of task and job description can be communicated to the 40 most profitable candidates.
Stage 7: The full evaluation and choice course of is predicted to be concluded by finish October 2025. Onboarding to receiving UNDP workplaces (Expected This autumn, 2025).

All purposes and submitted documentation can be handled within the strictest confidence. You can be notified after every stage if you’ll progress to the next stage, with extra data on the necessities and replace on the timeframe.

If you might have any questions, we kindly encourage you to first seek the advice of our FAQ document which can already deal with your inquiry. Due to the excessive quantity of purposes we’re receiving, we might not be capable of reply to particular person queries. We respect your understanding.