DEADLINE: 29 MAY 2023
The African Leadership Centre (ALC) has announced a call for applications for Peace, Security & Development Fellowships for the academic year 2023/2024. Located in both Nairobi, Kenya and King`s College London, UK, ALC strives to inform and influence academic, research and policy discourses on leadership, peace, security & development on the African continent and globally.
SCHOLARSHIP
This is a fully funded opportunity, not including any visa application and processing costs. Funds will be made available to cover tuition, subsistence in theUK and Africa, accommodation, research-related costs, and all travel expenses related to the programme.2 However, successful applicants are expected to find their own accommodation both in the UK and Africa.
In the UK successful candidates will be able to apply for University of London accommodation, and they can also make their own accommodation arrangements. Candidates are strongly advised to make all necessary accommodation arrangements well in advance of taking up their positions at King’s College London.
Information on KCL student accommodation can be found at this link: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/accommodation/index.aspx
PROGRAM STRUCTURE
Phase 1: The first phase consists of a 12-month training programme based at King’s College London. This phase will comprise of regular group mentoring sessions with renowned academics, policy analysts and practitioners. It will also include a taught Master’s programme in Global Leadership and Peacebuilding, which will be taught at King’s College London. For a large part of this phase, fellows will be based at King’s College London. In addition, Fellows will spend brief periods at the African Leadership Centre (ALC) in Nairobi and Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Nairobi, where they will be required to undertake research and deliver research papers on peace, security and development in Africa.
Institutional Visits: During the 12-month period at King’s College in London, fellows will undertake visits to academic, policy and research institutions working on issues of peace, security and development.
Phase 2: For the second phase, fellows will be attached to select partner universities in Africa, for a period of 6 months. During this time, Fellows will work as faculty members and contribute to academic and policy research among other activities. This phase is designed to encourage the dissemination and exchange of ideas on the issues that were studied during the first phase of the programme.
Research Project: During phase 2, fellows will also be expected to conduct a research project on a key aspect of peace, security and development, and to produce a research report and a policy brief from their research. These outputs will be published and disseminated through relevant academic and policy platforms and publications. This phase of research and writing will last for 6 months.
Mentoring: During both phases, fellows will have access to the programme’s network of mentors, in the form of regular group mentoring and training on key thematic issues. One-on-one mentoring sessions will also be encouraged, so as to help guide students through the programme.
ELIGIBILITY
This award is available to young African women, particularly from conflict-affected contexts, interested in pursuing research, policy and practice careers in the field/s of peace, security and development.
The fellowship programme is designed to expose African women to security and peacebuilding approaches and using leadership studies to analyse these and, develop their expertise to generate African-led ideas and processes of change. The Fellowship aim to ground this expertise on peace and security in integrity and the pursuit of excellence.
The Fellowship is aligned with various regional and global peace and development frameworks including:
UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) 1325 and 2250 which call for the increased involvement of women and youth in peace processes
Sustainable Development Goals 5- Gender Equality and 16- Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
African Union Agenda 2063- Aspiration 4- A peaceful and secure Africa, Aspiration 6- An Africa, whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children and Aspiration 7- Africa as a strong, united, resilient and influential global player and partner.
Candidates must be female citizens of African countries. Candidates from conflict-affected contexts are encouraged to apply.
▪ Successful candidates must hold valid travel documents prior to acceptance.
▪ Candidates must hold a Master’s or Bachelor’s degree with an equivalent level of professional experience.
▪ Candidates must have knowledge of, or experience of 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 and show how a post graduate degree would enable them to do this.
▪ 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 utilize knowledge gained in the Fellowship upon return to their countries and/ or organizations.
▪ Candidates must be fluent in spoken and written English as all aspects of the programme are delivered in English. An English Language Prficiency test will be required in order to gain unconditional acceptance on to the MSc.
HOW TO APPLY
All applications to the Fellowship Programme must also be accepted on the MSc Global Leadership and Peacebuilding at King's. Please read all relevant information on that MSc programme at this URL https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/courses/global-leadership-and-peacebuilding-msc
However, there is no need to apply directly for that MSc programme. Instead, applicants to the Fellowship programme must first make individual successful applications to the Peace and Security Fellowship Programme at King's College London through the online portal here. If your application is successful, it will automatically be transferred onto the MSc Global Leadership and Peacebuilding programme at King's.
To be accepted on to the Fellowship, applicants must be accepted on both the MSc programme by King's and the Fellowship programme by the ALC.
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, 20 th May 2023.
• Recent curriculum vitae of 2 pages maximum.
• One writing sample (maximum 1000 words each - example can include original research paper, extracts from dissertation, essay paper, policy paper relevant to peace and security).
• One research proposal of no more than 1000 words – The conflict in Ukraine has been raging for almost two months. 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 developing a research project on the impact of the war in Ukraine on the African continent. Write a research proposal outlining how you would go about this research paying particular attention to one of the following:
(i) the impact on contested gender relations in the continent;
(ii) the impact on relations between citizens and the state and, in particular young people; (iii) some of the international or continental normative frameworks that you might rely on for your analysis; or
(iv) the types of leadership issues that African policymakers and practitioners would contend with as they seek to navigate the impacts of the war in Europe (1000 words max).
• On the online application system, please indicate that you have completed the King’s College Application (Note that you are required to submit your application by registering an account on the King’s application portal here and apply under the Peace and Security Fellowship Programme, as detailed above by the deadline of 23:59 hrs EAT, 20 th May 2022).
MORE INFORMATION: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/alc/study-with-us/fellowships
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