As part of its programme to support member States, ECA is partnering with the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to promote leadership development through a practical and on-the-job fellowship. The programme is aimed at enabling young African professionals to develop leadership capacity in a large institution, gain knowledge of the functioning of the United Nations, have better understanding of Africa’s socio-economic challenges and contribute to the analytical, advocacy and policy advisory work of the Commission. The Mo Ibrahim Foundation (the “Foundation”), is financing this Fellowship position in the ECA. The Fellow will perform the duties and responsibilities of the position at the headquarters of ECA in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The Mo Ibrahim Leadership Fellowship Programme is a selective Fellowship that prepares the next generation of outstanding African leaders by providing them with unique work opportunities at the most senior level of prominent African institutions or multilateral organizations, whose mandate is to improve the economic and social prospects of Africa. The Fellowship allows talented individuals to increase and enhance their professional capacity, with the intention of contributing to the governance and development of their countries thereby creating a pipeline of future African leaders.
DUTIES and RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Foundation Fellow will be mentored by the Executive Secretary of ECA and/or a designated Representative in the Office of the Executive Secretary (OES). With this guidance, the Fellow will work on the design and implementation of strategic assignments in support of the ECA’s mandate of contributing to the governance and development of member states. As part of his/her general responsibilities, the Fellow will be expected to:
• Advise on and develop strategic initiatives to advance UNECA’s mission and objectives.
• Support the programmatic and administrative functions of OES
• Plan, develop, and implement strategies for promoting regional integration.
• Conceive, develop and promote innovations in UNECA development policies, including helping Africa to meet its special needs.
• Review activity reports and financial statements to determine progress and status in attaining objectives and revise objectives and plans in accordance with current conditions.
• Undertake other duties as assigned.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
• The Fellowship is for young female and male professionals, mid-career and executives alike who are nationals of ECA member States, residing anywhere in the world;
• Applicants must be under the age of Forty (40) years old on the date of application deadline (15 October 2021); Consideration will, however, be given to women under the age of Forty-Five (45) years old with children on the date of the application deadline;
• Applicants must not be employees of the United Nations Secretariat/ ECA.
Work Experience Applicants should have at least 7 years of relevant work experience and must be able to demonstrate competency in professionalism, teamwork, client orientation, planning and organizing and leadership potential.
Applicants must also have proven:
• Experience in strategic planning and execution;
• Knowledge of negotiating and change management;
• Enhanced skills in examining and re-engineering operations and procedures;
• Experience in formulating policy, and developing and implementing new strategies and procedures;
• Ability to communicate and interact with officials at all levels of government and to work effectively with a wide range of constituencies in a diverse community;
• Experience in research/analytical work in a socioeconomic related area;
• Experience with working on African issues is an advantage.
• Ability to work in teams and simultaneously on several assignments.
Education
Applicants must hold at least a Master’s Degree or higher in Economics, Social Sciences, International Development, Business Administration, Law, Finance, Engineering, or any discipline relevant to the work of ECA.
HOW TO APPLY
The application consists of three main elements, listed below, all of which are mandatory in order for an application to be considered complete. Candidates must submit their applications via email, containing the following documents as PDF attachments (any other document/ attachment types will not be accepted). Large documents may be combined/ compressed into a zip file (.zip) if necessary. Please do NOT use any other file compression formats (e.g. RAR).
Applications may be in English or French.
1. UN Personal History Profile (PHP)* in PDF format, including a cover letter within the PHP (to be submitted as an attachment to email submission)
o Applicants will be evaluated primarily based on the information contained in their PHPs. Therefore, applicants are advised to thoroughly complete the PHP and their descriptions 3 of their education, training, language proficiency and work experience, as well as the cover letter within the PHP document;
o *The UN Personal History Profile (PHP) can be created at: https://inspira.un.org o Applicants should refer to Pages 6-10 of this document, which contains detailed step-by-step instructions about how to create a PHP within the Inspira system and generate a PDF of the document that must be attached to your email submission;
o There is no Job Opening for this Fellowship within the Inspira system. The instructions referenced above detail how applicants can create a draft PHP (not tied to any published Job Opening) within Inspira, and save the draft PHP as a PDF for inclusion as an attachment to the applicant’s email submission;
o ECA does NOT have an ability to retrieve draft/ created PHPs from Inspira; thus, email submissions that do not contain a complete PHP as a PDF attachment will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed;
o A blank sample PHP is included for reference in Pages 11-13 of this document. Your PHP should look similar (except with all of the relevant information/ fields filled in) after following the steps outlined on Pages 6-10;
o The cover letter is created as part of the online PHP creation process in Inspira, and will be visible on Page 1 of the PHP PDF under the heading “Cover Letter for this Application” (refer to Page 11 of this document for an example);
o If after reviewing the information above, you are still unable to generate the PHP in the indicated PDF format, you may email matthew.meyer@un.org for technical support.
Please plan your time and attempt to create the draft PHP well in advance so that you have sufficient time to seek technical support, if needed.
2. Copies of academic degree certificates for all relevant degrees
o Applicants should include scanned copies of any/ all master’s degrees, as well as doctorate/ terminal degrees;
o Copies of academic certificates that are NOT degrees, and copies of high school diplomas/ transcripts are NOT required;
o Since a master’s degree is the minimum degree required, submission of documentation related to first-level (e.g. baccalaureate) degrees is not required.
3. Three (3) letters of reference/recommendation
o Letters of recommendation should be addressed to the “2022 ECA Mo Ibrahim Leadership Fellow Selection Committee”;
o Letters of recommendation from referees should be sent from referees directly to applicants. Applicants are to include the letters of recommendation in their email submission to ECA which contains all required documents in PDF format (PHP, degrees, and recommendation letters);
o Letters of recommendation sent directly from referees to ECA (letters not transmitted via the applicant) will NOT be considered and applications submitted by applicants that lack all three letters of recommendation will be considered incomplete and will not be further reviewed.
SUMMARY
ALL SUBMISSIONS WITH REQUIRED ATTACHMENTS TO BE EMAILED TO: RecruitmentPPost@un.org (please refer to the detailed instructions in Section 5: How to Apply)
Duty Station: Addis-Ababa
Post Title: Mo Ibrahim Leadership Fellowship
Deadline for Application: 15 October 2021, 11:59 p.m. (23:59) Addis Ababa time (GMT +3).
Any applications received after this deadline will not be reviewed; no exceptions will be made. Please plan to submit your application in advance to account for any technical difficulties you may experience.
Duration of Assignment/Conditions: This Fellowship is awarded for a period of 12 months.