AUC-UNDP African Young Women Leaders Fellowship Programme

The African Young Women Leaders Fellowship Programme offers an interesting 12-month assignment with UNDP at its HQ in New York or in one of its regional or country offices. There will be no placement in hardship locations.

The AfYWL Fellowship Programme is a partnership under the framework of the AUC Chairperson’s 1 Million Next Level Initiative, which aims to provide opportunities for African youth in the key areas of Education, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Engagement, and mainstream youth and women in key development spaces. This exciting partnership aims to build a new generation of young African women leaders and experts to serve Africa and the world in designing and implementing development programmes in the context of the SDGs and Agenda 2063.

Focus Areas

• Natural Resource Governance
• Youth and Women’s Employment and Empowerment
• Structural Economic Transformation
• Sustainable Energy
• Climate Change
• Peace and Security

Benefits

• Participation in a joint induction/leadership training workshop in late 2025 or early 2026 developed by AUC and UNDP (costs covered).
• Access to an earmarked learning budget for relevant learning/development activities.
• Participation in regular mentorship by senior AUC and UNDP staff.
• Participation in tailored learning and community events targeting UNDP Young Professionals
• Support from UNDP on other corporate learning and development activities.

Responsibilities

• Collection and analysis of data and research on SDGs and Agenda 2063;
• Experimentation on promising areas of innovation around the six impact areas of UNDP’s Renewed Strategic Offer in Africa;
• Drafting research papers, reports and presentations;
• Participating in internal and external meetings and conferences;
• Supporting the implementation of projects and initiatives on gender, youth, climate change, resilience and security among others;
• Participating in field missions as required;
• Providing support and liaising with government officials and various stakeholders.

Eligibility Criteria

• Education:
  • Completed Master’s degree or equivalent in Economics, Political Science, Business Administration, International Relations/Development, Law, Communications, Digitalization or other related development field.
• Experience:
  • Maximum cumulative two years (post bachelor/postmaster degree) of relevant and paid working experience in research, analysis and programme/project development, implementation and management.
• Language Requirements:
  • Strong working knowledge of English is required
  • Proficiency in at least one additional AU working language (Arabic, English, French, Portuguese or Spanish) is an advantage
• Additional Criteria:
  • Female candidates accepted only
  • National of an African Union member state
  • Maximum Age of 30 at the date of application.
  • Available in 2025/2026 to dedicate 12 months for a fellowship assignment.
  • Available late 2025 to relocate to duty station and start the Fellowship assignment.
  • Willing to live and work outside country of residence on an assignment which leverages on your skills & potential.
  • Understanding of, and interest in, poverty eradication, sustainable structural transformation, the SDGs and Agenda 2063.
  • Capacity to gather comprehensive information on complex problems or situations, and ability to evaluate and analyze information accurately in order to identify key issues and solutions.
  • Additional expertise and background in digital transformation, strategic partnerships and communications, development intelligence and innovation will also be considered.

Application Requirements

• Copies of your Passports for upload. If you do not hold a passport, a copy of your national ID can be uploaded. If you hold multiple nationalities, please upload copies of all passports/national IDs.
• Copies of your academic degrees (tertiary education/Master and Bachelor from duly accredited higher education institution for upload).

For more information, visit African Union.