King’s College London: African Women in Peace, Security and Development Fellowship 2023/2024

Applications are now open for the 2023/2024 King’s College London Fellowships for African Women in Peace, Security & Development.

Closing date: 29 My 2023

About the Fellowship

The Peace, Security and development Fellowships for African Women bring together African women at the early stages of their career to undertake a carefully designed training programme in Leadership, Development and Security at the African Leadership Centre (ALC), Nairobi, Kenya and King’s College London.

The Fellowship programme is designed to expose young professional African women to the complexities of conflict, security and development and equip them for careers in this field.

The fellowship constitutes an intellectual and financial award available to young African Women in the early stages of their careers seeking to deepen their knowledge and experience in the fields of Leadership, Peace, Security and Development.

The Fellowship is a postgraduate non-degree programme and does not lead to an academic qualification. The fellowship is a residential programme based in Nairobi, Kenya (with occasional visit to King`s College London) and targets African women with the potential to bring about intellectual, policy or other change in the field of Peace, Security and Development.

Through this fellowship, the African Leadership Centre (ALC) aims to increase the number of African women exposed to rigorous academic research, writing and policy analysis in the field of peace and security.

It is in alignment and solidarity with various regional and international frameworks on Youth and Women Participation in Peace and Political Processes, Gender Equality and Women Peace and Security. These include UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) 1325 and 2250, Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 16, and African Union Agenda 2063- Aspiration 4, 6 and 7.

Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in academic modules from King’s College London and the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at University of Nairobi.

This is coupled with an overarching mentoring programme and followed by a six-month placement at an African Regional Organisation or Centre of Excellence.

This will enable them to acquire practical experience in the field of peace, security and development while also providing them increased opportunity to participate in conflict management processes and other areas of security concerns for Africans.

Eligibility

• Candidates must be female citizens of African countries.

• Successful candidates must hold valid travel documents prior to acceptance.

• Candidates must hold a master’s or bachelor’s degree and added experiences in peace, security and development field is valued.

• Candidates must have knowledge of, or experience with women’s rights, gender and development issues.
• Candidates must be able to demonstrate a commitment to contribute to work on peace, security and development in Africa.

• Candidates must be able to demonstrate capacity to undertake research on issues relating to peace, security and development in Africa.
• Candidates must demonstrate commitment to the core values of the programme: Promoting African led ideas and processes of Change; Independent thinking; Integrity; Pursuit of Excellence; Recognition of Youth Agency and Respect for diversity in all its forms.

• Candidates must have a demonstrable plan for how to utilise knowledge gained in the Fellowship upon return to their countries and/ or organisations.
• Candidates must be fluent in spoken and written English as all aspects of the programme are delivered in English.

How to Apply

Applications will be accepted ONLINE at the following link where you need to create an account to apply: http://applications.africanleadershipcentre.org/

The deadline for applications is 23:59 hrs EAT, 29^th May 2023. Shortlisted candidates will be expected to attend face-to-face interviews at the ALCcontinental headquarters, in Nairobi, Kenya in mid-June.

Before you begin your application, please take time to carefully go through the online application guidance available here.

The following documents are required before your application will be considered complete:

• Fully completed application questionnaire.

• A supporting statement of between 500 and 750 words – outline why you want to be part of this programme, what your unique contribution would be and what change you see yourself contributing to in your community/ area of work after the programme.

• 2 letters of recommendation (To be received directly from the Referees by the deadline of 23:59 hrs EAT, 29^th May 2023).

• Recent curriculum vitae of 2 pages maximum.

• One writing sample (maximum 1000 words each – example can include an original research paper, extracts from a dissertation, an essay paper, or policy paper relevant to peace and security).

• One reflective writing of 500 words on the following case – The conflict in Ukraine has been raging for more than a year. Daily global media outlets report on the impact of this conflict on peace, security and development across the world; Africa is not exempt. As a prospective ALC Peace, Security and Development Fellow, you are tasked with writing a reflective paper on the impact of the war in Ukraine on the African continent. Write a reflective paper on the impact of the war in Ukraine on Africa choosing one of the following dimensions: (i) the impact on contested gender relations in the continent; (ii) the impact on relations between citizens and

Successful candidates will need to make alternative arrangements to cover the costs and other livelihood needs of dependents before arrival in Kenya/UK or attachment location.

For both countries, prospective applicants must satisfy the Immigration Authorities that they have sufficient funds to support themselves and their dependents before arrival (taking into account the stipend to be provided by the Mentoring Programme). Similar immigration requirements apply in Kenya and other African countries where fellows may be attached.

All supporting documents should be submitted via the online portal here. Please note that no email applications will be accepted. If you are experiencing problems with the online application portal, please contact us at [email protected] .

We encourage all applicants to submit their applications early to avoid delays and failure to submit because of technical challenges.