Call for Applications: 2025 Mandela Washington Fellowship Catalyst Grant

 IREX is excited to announce the launch of the Mandela Washington Fellowship Catalyst Grant application, a unique funding opportunity for Fellowship Alumni! Through a partnership with D-Prize, a non-profit organization that works to distribute and scale proven technologies to benefit people in extreme poverty, up to two Fellowship Alumni will be selected to receive grants of up to $20,000 USD each to pilot a new initiative to catalyze change and distribute a proven poverty intervention wherever extreme poverty exists. 

• Table of Content
• About Mandela Washington Fellowships
• Catalyst Grant
• Requirements for Catalyst Grant Qualification
• Interview date, Process and Venue for Catalyst Grant
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About Mandela Washington Fellowships

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is the flagship program of the U.S. Government’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). Since 2014, nearly 4,400 young leaders from every country in Sub-Saharan Africa have participated in the Fellowship. The Fellows, between the ages of 25 and 35, are accomplished leaders and have established records of promoting innovation and positive impact in their communities and countries. Each year, the Fellows participate in six-week Leadership Institutes, studying Business, Civic Engagement, or Public Management at U.S. colleges or u... continue reading

Catalyst Grant

Requirements for Catalyst Grant Qualification

• The Mandela Washington Fellowship Catalyst Grant is open to all Fellowship Alumni from all tracks, sectors, and levels of expertise who want to launch or scale a social enterprise in communities throughout Africa.
• The Mandela Washington Fellowship Catalyst Grant is intended to support Fellowship Alumni to deliver a proven poverty intervention at scale. The grant is not intended to support prototyping a promising new solution.

Interview date, Process and Venue for Catalyst Grant

Mandela Washington Fellowship Catalyst Grant Challenges*

Agriculture

• Quality Inputs Challenge: Can you provide smallholder farmers with high-quality inputs and training proven to increase their harvests?

Education

• Teaching at the Right Level Challenge: Can you teach basic reading and mathematics skills to primary school students in a resource-limited classroom?

Energy 

• Solar Lamp Challenge: Can you sell solar lights to rural or slum-dwelling households in need?

Health Access Challenges

• Child Immunization Challenge: Can you direct 500 caregivers (parents or other guardians) to bring their infants to health facilities for routine immunizations that otherwise would not occur?

Livelihoods

• Poverty Graduation Challenge: Can you provide business coaching, capital, and social support to lift people out of ultra-poverty?
• Reading Glasses Challenge: Can you distribute non-prescription reading/ working glasses to those in need?

Public Services

• Government Transparency Challenge: Can you improve transparency and report data on the public service performance?
• Road Safety Challenge: Can you reduce road fatalities by mobilizing the public with a proven public transportation safety campaign? 

Application Deadline

How to Apply

Timeline

• Round 1 Application Deadline: November 18, 2024
• Round 1 Decision Notifications and Round 2 Application Invitations: December 2024
• Round 2: Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni applicants invited to Round 2 will be required to submit a plan a few weeks after the invitation. 
• Final Round: Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni applicants’ invitation to the Final Round -Virtual interview by the selection committee.  
• Winning ventures will be announced in March 2025. 

For more details, visit Mandela Washington Fellowship website.