WBG Africa Fellowship Program
The World Bank Group (WBG) Africa Fellowship Program targets young talented African nationals who are completing or recently completed a Ph.D. in an area relevant to the World Bank’s work. The fellowship program builds a strong pipeline of young African talent interested in a career in development, in international institutions, African governments, think tanks, and academia. The program offers chosen fellows a six-month assignment at World Bank Group (WBG) offices in Washington D.C. or in country offices to gain hands-on experience in the operations of the WBG. This includes knowledge generation and dissemination, the design of global and country policies, and the building of institutions to achieve inclusive growth in developing countries. While benefitting from research and innovation in multiple sectors, fellows will also work on research, economic policy, technical assistance, and lending operations that contribute to the World Bank’s goal of eliminating poverty and increasing shared prosperity.
The WBG’s Africa fellows have proven to be valuable resources for their hiring units. They contribute to the work program of their respective units and to the World Bank’s mission. In the process they (i) gain a better understanding of the World Bank’s operations; (ii) access quality data for their research; (iii) interact with and learn from seasoned experts in the field of development.
The application period opens between August and September of each year.
Eligibility Criteria
- Be a Sub-Saharan national who are recent Ph.D. graduates, or current doctoral students within a year of completing or graduating from a Ph.D. program in all relevant field of development, including, but not limited to economics, education, health, governance, energy, agriculture, infrastructure, demography.
- Have an excellent command of English, both written and verbal
- Be under the age of 32 by the closing of the application period
About the current cohort of Fellows (2018 cohort)
The 2018 cohort attracted 3,029 candidates, of which 144 from 26 African countries were preselected as potential fellows ready for hire. Twenty-four fellows have been selected and assigned to work in various World Bank Group units, including agriculture, energy, and trade. The cohort is composed of 15 women and eight men from 12 African countries.
Fellows are working in the following units across the World Bank: Agriculture, Education, Energy & Extractives, Governance, Africa Chief Economist Office, Development Economics, Health, Nutrition & Population, Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment, Social Protection & Labor, Poverty, Climate Change, Infrastructure & Public-Private Partnerships, Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV), and Gender. The program is supported by the Think Africa Partnership (TAP), the FCV Fund, as well as IDA resources of the WBG Africa region.
2019 WBG-AFRICA FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
- DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: October 5, 2018