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.
