Open Government Fellowship

Open Knowledge and Code for Africa are pleased to announce the launch of their pilot Open Government Fellowship programme.

The six month programme seeks to empower the next generation of leaders in field of open government. The primary objective of the Open Government Fellowship programme is to identify, train and support the next generation of open government advocates and community builders.  As you will see in the selection criteria, the most heavily weighted item is current engagement in the open government movement at the local, national and/or international level.

There are up to 3 fellowship positions open for the February to July 2015 pilot programme. Due to resourcing, we will only be accepting fellowship applications from individuals living and working in Africa.

Furthermore, in order to ensure that we are able to provide fellows with strong local support during the pilot phase, we will are targeting applicants from the following countries where Code for Africa and/or Open Knowledge already have existing networks: Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal, Tunisia, Tanzania, and Uganda. We are hoping to roll out the programme in other regions in autumn 2015.

How will Candidates Be Assessed and Selected? 

We will assess candidates using the following criteria. 

1. Existing Engagement in the Community (40%): We are looking to provide additional training and support to open government advocates already contributing to the open government community. In your application you should clearly indicate how you have previously and how you are currently participating in open and/or related communities (Open Source, Government Transparency and Accountability etc.) 
2. Vision for the Fellowship (30%): Although this fellowship is part time, we expect fellows to achieve tangible outcomes. In your application, please explain your vision for your fellowship and what outcomes you hope to achieve. 
3. Engagement Strategy (20%): The main objective of the Open Government Fellowship is to support individuals in galvanising open government within their community. In order to accomplish this goal, it will be necessary to foster new partnerships to collaborate with and to connect with new communities. In your application, please describe how you would try to engage with and grow your local open government community. 
4. Project Proposal (10%): In addition to the stipend, fellows will receive a $4,000 micro-grant to spend on a project(s) of their choice that will help you achieve your fellowship outcomes and objectives. In your application, you will be asked how you envision using these funds. 

Scholarship value

Successful candidates will receive a monthly stipend of $1,000, a $2,500 travel fund and a $3,000 project fund. 

In addition, Code for Africa will provide fellows with in-kind support such as access to Code for Africa workshop space in their CitizenLabs in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa & Tanzania (TZ only comes online in Feb) and access to similar spaces through Code for Africa affiliates in Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, etc.  Finally, the Code for Africa teams in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania will be happy to provide on-going technical support for the fellows over the course of the programme. 

We expect that fellows work on their fellowship an average of six to ten days a month for the duration of the fellowship. 

The deadline to apply is December 15th, 2014.

For further details and application please visit the Open Government Fellowship page.