IREX seeks academic, professional, and regional experts to read and score applications for the 2022 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. Over the first seven years of the Fellowship, we received nearly 300,000 applications from 49 Sub-Saharan African countries for 5,100 Fellow slots. Your talents and expertise in helping score our high volume of applications are greatly appreciated!
The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). The Fellowship brings young leaders to the United States for academic coursework and leadership training to create unique opportunities for Fellows and U.S. citizens to collaborate, spur economic growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance, and enhance peace and security across Africa and the United States. In summer 2022, the Fellowship will bring up to 700 young leaders to the United States for a comprehensive executive-style program designed to build skills and empower Fellows to lead in their respective sectors and communities.
Readers will be responsible for evaluating program applicants based on set guidelines and a scoring rubric. Readers will each read approximately 40 applications and may receive a one-time, $100 honorarium for their service. Note that Fellowship Alumni and U.S. Government employees and contractors are not eligible to receive an honorarium. We can only pay readers who have a U.S. bank account. We cannot send international wire payments.
The reading period will begin on September 16, 2021, and comprises up to three separate reading phases, each lasting approximately two weeks, from mid-September through early November. Selected readers will be assigned to one of the reading phases to review about 40 applications. Each application takes about 10-15 minutes to read; the total time commitment is estimated at 10 hours.
Eligibility
Ideal readers are academics and/or professionals with expertise in one or more of the Fellowship’s thematic areas (business, civic engagement, or public management), have experience working in Africa, or experience working on Sub-Saharan African issues. If you are interested in serving as a reader, please complete the application form as soon as possible. Submit the application form by September 1, 2021, to be eligible for the reading pool starting from the first phase. We will confirm via email whether you are selected to be a reader before the Fellowship application closes on September 15, 2021.
Application Form: mwfellows.info/2022ReaderApplication
Contact: For any questions, please email MWFReaders@irex.org.
