March 18, 2025 – The Call to apply for the 2025 Young Impact Associates (YIA) in Agrifood Systems Fellowship is now open.

Are you a young African passionate about driving transformational change through data-driven decisions in African agrifood systems? Are you ready to make a difference? Measure impact – Create change – Transform Africa’s agrifood systems landscape? Join the Young Impact Associates (YIA) – Agriculture Focus Fellowship and be part of shaping Africa’s development narrative. The Call to apply for the Fellowship is now open to applicants who are between the ages of 18 and 35 years from Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda and will close on April 30, 2025.

The YIA Fellowship in Agrifood Systems is a year-long flagship program designed to prepare a new generation of African leaders capable to make a difference in the impact measurement field and contribute to driving transformative change in Africa’s agrifood landscape.

The YIA Fellowship in Agrifood Systems is implemented by a consortium of partners including CIFOR-ICRAF, African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP), and Akademiya2063.

Through the YIA Fellowship, the Mastercard Foundation and the consortium of partners known as Impact Partner Organizations (IPO) aim to accelerates career of emerging African leaders in impact measurement, research, and consulting positioning them to contribute to Africa’s evidence-driven decisions and development.

The YIA Fellowship will support African young professionals in data and impact measurement and will equip them with knowledge, tools and skills, to evaluate, package, and demonstrate the impact of socially inclusive interventions in the African agrifood systems.

The selected participants, known as Young Impact Associates (YIAs), will contribute to Mastercard Foundation’s transformative agenda of “fostering the professional growth and development of young impact leaders by developing their expertise and maintaining their engagement and interest in the impact field”.

Applications must be submitted through an online application portal. Please click here to apply.

Download this brochure for more details including the eligibility criteria and Fellowship structure. The deadline to apply is on April 30, 2025, 23:59, East Africa Time (GMT+3). Applications will NOT be accepted after this date.