Acumen West Africa Fellows Programme 2021

Application Deadline: 6th August, 2020

Eligible Countries: Countries in West Africa

To be taken at (country): Fellow’s Home country

About the Award: The program equips extraordinary individuals from across East and West Africa with the knowledge, support system and practical wisdom to unlock their full potential and drive positive change in society. Fellows are bright minds and big thinkers who dare to do what’s right, not what’s easy, to create positive change in their country. Fellows can come from diverse cultural, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds and work in any sector, and they must be committed to ending poverty in their community through their work.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: 

• Innovators who either started an organization or enterprise, or who are driving change within an existing organization or company.
• Men and women of all ages and education levels who are able to participate in a program conducted in English.
• East Africans who demonstrate a commitment and concrete connection to the region.
• Leaders with strong personal integrity, unrelenting perseverance and moral imagination.
• Committed individuals ready to undergo an intensive yearlong personal transformation and leadership journey.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Fellowship: Over the course of a year, Fellows remain in their jobs while taking part in five week-long seminars, where they receive the tools, training and space to innovate new ideas, accelerate their impact, build a strong network of social leaders from across their region and around the world.

Year 1

• Join a diverse cohort of social change leaders in a rigorous year-long experience
• Improve your capacity to innovate and drive change with a mix of in-person and online seminars
• Part-time — you stay in your job while participating in four 5-day seminar in various locations across West Africa

Beyond Year 1

• Be a part of a lifelong fellowship that extends beyond your first year
• Join a larger local and global community committed to a world beyond poverty and injustice

West Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies – yet it will require a different type of leadership to ensure that the fruits of this growth are felt by all. It will require leaders grounded in integrity, and relentless in their pursuit of equity and justice. The West Africa Fellowship will bring together entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and organization-builders from both the public and private sectors who are modeling this leadership, and who are hungry to do more.

Duration of Fellowship: 1 year

How to Apply:

Our application process consists of these steps.

1. Step 1: Leave us your information here and be the first to know when applications open
2. Step 2: Apply online – Applications open 1 July and closes 6 August
3. Step 3: Complete Stage 2 application between 7 Sept and 24 Sept
4. Step 4: Attend an in-person Selection Conference in mid-November
5. Step 5: Fellows are announced in January 2021

When will you find out?

1. Step 1: Our Fellows are selected in early December
2. Step 2: Fellows are announced in January 2021

Apply Now

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details