The African Young Women Leaders Alumni Network connects fellows across cohorts, continents and causes. Where bold ideas meet lasting partnership. Where the journey continues.
We are graduates of the African Young Women Leaders Fellowship Programme — a joint initiative between the African Union Commission and UNDP.
Established in 2019, the African Young Women Leaders (AfYWL) Fellowship Programme seeks to cultivate a new generation of young African women leaders to serve Africa and the world through the design and implementation of development programmes in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s Agenda 2063.
The Fellowship Programme, a joint initiative between the African Union Commission (AUC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), aims to advance gender equality by investing in global women leadership.
95
Alumni Fellows
24+
African countries
3
Cohorts
Our three pillars
Empowering leaders
Equipping outstanding young African women leaders with the leadership skills and experience required to advance the SDGs and contribute effectively to decision making in public, private and multilateral institutions at home and abroad.
Strenghtening capacity
Creating a diverse pool of talent to enhance UNDP’s organizational efficiency and contribute to more responsive and effective policies and programmes.
Connecting professionals
Developing a network of African young women professionals that engages in promoting innovative, sustainable and inclusive development through South-South development exchange.
This fellowship is about nurturing young African women to lead—and not just to lead, but to lead as women: with integrity, compassion, and heart. When women lead, they are not only thinking about winning; they are thinking about people—about communities, about the future, and about building a more humane and compassionate world.
Ahunna Eziakonwa,
UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director, Regional Bureau for Africa
Agenda 2063 envisions an Africa where development is people-driven, especially by its women and youth. That vision is not abstract. It depends on you. Fellows, you have not just been selected to benefit. You have been called to lead, because Africa’s future is young and female.
H.E. Selma Malika Haddadi
Deputy Chairperson, AUC
Storybooks
Our journeys, in our words