UN ECA Fellowship Programme 2024 for Young African Professionals: (Deadline: 17  August, 2024)

Applications are open for the UN ECA Fellowship Programme 2024 for Young African Professionals. This Fellowship programme aims to provide practical, on-the-job experience to the young professionals in their early and middle career in the academy, public sector or international development in providing them exposure and learning in a multicultural environment of the UN and contribute to the work of ECA.

It will also provide the candidates with the opportunity to familiarize with the Commission’s broad programmes and services to member States and subregional bodies in addressing economic and social dimensions of Africa’s development priorities. This should expectedly improve their skills, capacity and intellectual ability.

Responsibilities

Within delegated authority, the Fellows will be responsible for the following duties:

• The Fellow(s) will agree to a work programme, either in the Programme Pillar focused on areas of economic and social development or in the Programme Support Pillar, focused on areas of communication, advocacy, knowledge/information management and administration. The work programme will be defined mutually with the receiving/mentoring Division, Sub-Regional Office or Centre. The fellow(s) will contribute to the work of the Division, Sub-Regional Office or Centre by carrying out research, analytical studies, drafting reports and supporting other activities, as directed.
• Assignments within the areas of focus may include, but are not limited to, collecting, evaluating, interpreting, and analyzing economic, social and political development issues in the focus areas. The fellow(s) will also contribute to technical and policy reports, briefing notes, and support in the organization and servicing of expert group meetings, workshops, and seminars; and fulfil various other administrative tasks for the effective delivery of the activities. The fellow(s) will be required to prepare a research paper and make presentation on it in the course of their fellowship.

Benefits

• The selected Fellows must be available to travel to the assigned duty station as may be decided by ECA after the selection process;
• The selected Fellows will receive a return air ticket between his/her country of residence and the assigned duty station;
• The selected Fellows will receive a one-off settling-in grant of USD $3,000 (for fellows recruited from outside of the duty station) and a monthly stipend of USD $3,000 each for the duration of the fellowship. Note that the final month stipend will only be paid upon submission of:
  • A peer-reviewed fellowship research paper,
  • A comprehensive fellowship report, an approved final performance evaluation of the fellow,
  • A completed fellowship programme evaluation form and
  • An exit boarding pass or immigration stamp showing that the fellow has departed the duty station and returned back to his/her home country, where both are not the same, at the end of the fellowship programme.
• The fellowship program is for six months but may be extended for a maximum of another six months.

Eligibility

• The candidate applying for this fellowship programme must be 35 years of age or below, at the time of the application;
• The candidate must be a national of a member State of the Economic Commission for Africa;
• The candidate must have graduated before 1 July 2024 from either a master’s degree or doctorate degree programme, or equivalent;
• The candidate should have interest in one or more of the identified thematic areas;
• The selected candidate will work on a predefined project, designed to contribute to specific aspects of the work programme of the mentoring Division, Sub-Regional Office or ECA Centres, and contribute to other activities;
• The selected candidate should participate in national, regional or international meetings as assigned for exposure;
• The selected candidate should submit and present at a seminar a peer reviewed research paper at the end of the assignment; and
• The selected candidate will be part of an alumni association of ECA Fellows and member of practicing international development “community of practice”.

Application

Candidates must submit their Administrative Profiles (APs) and the following documents as PDF
attachments:

• UN Administrative Profile (AP) in PDF format, including a motivation statement (cover letter) within the AP (to be submitted as an attachment to email submission). The UN AP (Administrative Profile) can be created by signing up for an account at: https://inspira.un.org.
• A research proposal of not less than 1,000 words (in candidate’s preferred thematic area listed above) Candidate must clearly indicate the thematic area of choice at the top of the research proposal document.
• Copies of all advanced-level academic degrees obtained (e.g., doctorate and/ or master’s degree(s). As an advanced-level degree is required for the fellowship, first level (bachelor’s) degrees and certificates should NOT be submitted.
• Copy of applicant’s national passport (information page only); if you hold multiple nationalities, the passport provided should be that of an ECA member State) and;
• Three letters of reference/recommendation.

All submissions must be emailed to RecruitmentPPost@un.org.

For more information, visit ECA Fellowship.