She Leads African Food Futures
The She Leads African Food Futures (SHEAF) Fellowship seeks to build a vibrant, highly connected network of African women professionals from diverse disciplines to drive policy and programmatic change for equitable agri-food systems in sub-Saharan Africa. The two-year Fellowship will integrate leadership development, mentorship and network development, and technical excellence to produce a network of African women committed and equipped to lead and drive gender-responsive agrifood systems programs and policies
The program is implemented in three countries including Senegal, Malawi and Kenya.
The Fellows will participate in an immersive, non-residential program that incorporates a blended approach of virtual and face-to-face activities, including individual and collaborative sessions designed to enhance their experience and expertise while fostering cross-learning. The activities will include;
1. Mentorship and Network Development
- Structured eight-week Mentoring Orientation Workshop where they will be paired with seasoned mentors.
- Monthly mentoring meetings between Fellows and mentors, coupled with one-on-one tailored coaching sessions.
- Peer learning sessions to foster cross learning and deepen participants’ understanding
- Curated policy dialogues and participatory discussions on equitable agri-food systems in Africa.
2. Leadership Development
- Five-day face-to-face Women’s Leadership and Management Course focused on professional psychometric assessments and case studies to enhance communication, confidence building, leadership, and influence.
- Fellows will be supported to establish individual or joint role modelling activities that will enable them to apply and disseminate lessons from their leadership training.
3. Technical Excellence
- Enhancing Fellows’ technical expertise in integrating gender in agriculture programs and policies through a virtual gender in agrifood systems course and development of gender analyses and action plans.
- Participate in in-country knowledge forums and networking activities geared towards forging collaborativepartnerships among the Fellows.
- Convening Fellows and other stakeholders to connect, learn, and share in global and regional platforms, diversifying the voices represented in agrifood systems debates across Africa.
