Application Deadline: May 15, 2025
Applications are now open for the 2025 CODESRIA/Mastercard Foundation African Fellowships for Research in Indigenous & Alternative Knowledges. The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce a call for proposals for a new research and scholarship program, the African Indigenous and Alternative Knowledge Scholarships (AFRIAK). This program is offered with the support of the Mastercard Foundation as part of the Foundation’s commitment to promoting youth education and skills in Africa, and in recognition of the contribution of the late Ghanaian scholar Sulley Gariba to the promotion of African knowledge in research and evaluation.
Requirements
- This call is aimed at young people aged 24 to 35 years old, engaged in research and knowledge production activities that draw, or aim to draw, on indigenous/local knowledge perspectives.
- Targeted young people should be affiliated with formal research and knowledge institutions or indigenous knowledge research centers in Africa. Practitioners with formal teaching qualifications, who are engaged in activities that draw on the application of indigenous/local knowledge perspectives, are also encouraged to apply.
Up to 70% of the youth selected for the fellowship will be young women . - Applicants should specify their research area/theme of interest, in line with the CODESRIA priority areas identified above.
Fellowship Details
- The fellowship covers induction, midterm internship, fieldwork, dissemination activities, and post-fellowship activities, during which former fellows will contribute to a community of practice in Indigenous and other knowledge systems.
- Fellows will be grouped into teams of seven, accompanied by two Indigenous/local knowledge holders and an academic mentor. Research conceptualization, execution, and dissemination approaches will be developed jointly by the junior fellows, academic mentors, and Indigenous knowledge holders. The duration of the fellowship, including fieldwork and dissemination, will be seven months.
- Throughout the fellowship, research teams will receive mentorship and support from intellectual hubs, which will be identified and established by CODESRIA to strengthen intellectual and community engagement.
Application procedures
Individual and joint applications will be accepted.
Individual applications must submit the following: –
- A one-page CV specifying, among other things, date of birth, current employment/engagement and institutional affiliation.
- A two-page concept note that introduces a topic, explains how the topic fits into a priority area defined by CODESRIA, justifies the choice of the topic and its compelling nature, and summarizes the main steps the applicant wishes to take to achieve the results of the research and scholarship process.
- A one-page reference letter written by two people familiar with the applicant’s work.
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