Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa (NIERA) Policy Fellowship Program 2025

In this call, NIERA invites policymakers from eligible countries in  West and East Africa to apply for a 6-week
 fellowship aimed at enhancing their knowledge and skills in evidence-informed policymaking. The fellowship begins with a one-week online course focused on evidence-informed policymaking. The course comprises five modules: revisiting the policymaking process, accessing evidence, appraising evidence, synthesizing evidence, and applying evidence. Upon completing the course successfully, policymakers will be paired with a researcher from NIERA.

Over the remaining 5 weeks, the policymaker and researcher will collaborate virtually to  develop a short research proposal (concept note) addressing a specific and well-defined evidence need identified by the policymaker.

• Table of Content
• About Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa (NIERA)
• NIERA Policy Fellowship Program
• Requirements for NIERA Policy Fellowship Program Qualification
• Interview date, Process and Venue for NIERA Policy Fellowship Program
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa (NIERA)

Established in 2018, we are a network of African scholars seeking to advance decision-focused impact evaluation of development programs through capacity building, evidence generation and policy outreach. NIERA is hosted under The United States International University-Africa’s (USIU-Africa) in Nairobi, Kenya. NIERA is an association currently comprising of alumni of the East Africa Social Science Translation (EASST) Collaborative and has membership across five member countries – Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda equipped with multi-sectoral expertise (high level acade... continue reading

NIERA Policy Fellowship Program

Requirements for NIERA Policy Fellowship Program Qualification

To be eligible, an applicant must be a mid-level technical staff at a government ministry, agency or department in an eligible country. Lawmakers (such as members of parliament or their research staff) are also eligible to apply. For this upcoming call, interested applicants can apply to 1 of 3 thematic areas:

• Education
• Health
• Agriculture

Applicants to the NIERA Policy Fellowship Program must:

• Be fluent in English (written and spoken), and a strong communicator. • Be from an eligible West or East African country (see list of eligible countries below).
• Be a mid-level policymaker (i.e. technical staff within ministries, government agencies, sub-national government structures, and or parliament) with direct responsibility for providing technical advice to top-level policymakers and/or drafting policy or program documents.
• Have at least a Bachelor’s degree.
• Have demonstrable experience in policy development, or program management.
• Have good computer skills especially in using MS-Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and Access), use of the Internet, and reasonably conversant with various Internet search engines.
• Own a laptop and have a reliable internet connection for participating in the online workshop.
• Be a self-driven individual ready to learn and apply their acquired skills, as well as support others needing similar skills.
• Have written support from their employer.
• Eligible Countries: Burundi Cote D’Ivoire Ethiopia Ghana Kenya Mali Nigeria Rwanda Senegal Tanzania The Gambia Uganda Cameroon

Interview date, Process and Venue for NIERA Policy Fellowship Program

Application Timeline:

• March 24, 2025 – Release of Request for Applications
• April 3, 2025 – Virtual information session for potential applicants (2:00 PM EAT) To register for the information session click here: https://forms.gle/KMzf4hyrSQTwnxuz8
• May 7, 2025 – Application deadline
• May 8 – 23, 2025 – Application review
• May 26 – June 6, 2025 – Interviews with shortlisted applicants
• June 13, 2025 – Notification of final selection

Application Deadline

How to Apply

• Please submit your application materials to [email protected] by 5:00 PM EAT on Wednesday May 7, 2025.
• Applications received after this deadline will not be considered.
• An acknowledgement of receipt will be sent to all applicants whose application was received before the deadline.
• All personal information and documents submitted will be kept confidential, used solely for the fellowship application process, and will be stored securely.

For more details, visit NIERA fellowship webpage