Applications for the African Union (AU) Digital and Innovation Fellowship 2024 are now open. Click here to learn more about this scholarship.
About AU Digital and Innovation Fellowship
Opportunity Details
The African Union Digital and Innovation Fellowship Program is a robust 12-month program which aims to identify and deploy highly competent tech innovators from the African continent to units and organs within the African Union headquarters as ‘resident fellows’ to understand the system within those units, identify data management challenges within the systems and solve the challenges identified by co-creating and building innovative tailor-made products and processes that improve data management processes and the overall work of the AU, while ensuring the sustainability of the developed products and processes post the fellowship timeline, by strengthening the internal capacity of the AU staff within those units.
The fellows will be expected to co-create and build innovative tailor-made products and processes that improve the delivery of the African Union’s mandate especially in the context of good governance and citizens engagement. Additionally, the program will seek to facilitate conditions for building the internal capacity of the host African Union organs in the long term.
The first cohort was launched in September 2021 and has since produced 13 fellows deployed to different units/organs of the African Union to proffer digital solutions to the gaps in their data management and operations.
The fellowship program is implemented through the BMZ Commission’s GIZ DataCipation program which supports the African Union and its organs to enhance its mandate on citizens engagement.
Adopting a series of interventions and mechanisms, the DataCipation provides advisory and implementation support to the African Union to engage African citizens in the implementation of its mandate. In this context, the project is providing support to the African Union to implement a Digital and Innovation Fellowship Program
Benefits of AU Digital and Innovation Fellowship
- Participate in several capacity building training that [ will be facilitated by top experts from the African innovation ecosystem.
- Receive mentorship support from experienced industry experts drawn from the AfriLabs community.
- Network and benefit from several peer-to-peer learning opportunities.
- Receive monthly stipends throughout the period of the Fellowship.
- Embark on several all-expense-paid trips to ecosystem events, onboarding/offboarding, study/learning tour, etc.
- Attend a grand graduation ceremony where certificates will be awarded to fellows.
- Be recognized as a fellow/alumni of the African Union
- Digital and Innovation Fellowship Program.
AU Digital and Innovation Fellowship Requirements
- Be based in Africa and must be a National of an African Union member state;
- Be under the age of 34 prior to the time of application;
- Hold a tertiary education degree or its equivalent;
- Have the capacity to gather comprehensive information on complex problems or situations, and the ability to evaluate and analyze information accurately in order to identify key issues and proffer solutions;
- Have experience and technical know-how in designing innovative technology products/solutions;
- Be available to travel to participate in an induction workshop;
- Be available and willing to dedicate 12 months. Fellows will be required to take a break from current obligations and relocate to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
- Applicants who speak more than one AU official language (Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili) are strongly advised to apply.
Application Date and Process
- Click on the link to the application website to apply
- At the close of the application window, all eligible applications will be assessed by independent reviewers and top scorers will be picked for the next stage of the selection process as finalists.
- Finalists will undergo rounds of interviews by the AU departments/organs and the best 16 will be confirmed as fellows. Selected fellows will be mandated to attend the Fellows Induction Workshop and a virtual pre-deployment training before traveling to Addis Ababa and to be deployed to the AU departments organs.
Application Deadline
26 April, 2024
Scholarship Application Portal
View details of
AU Digital and Innovation Fellowship
Apply for AU Digital and Innovation Fellowship
