{"id":3271,"date":"2025-12-19T11:27:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/?p=3271"},"modified":"2025-12-20T09:01:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T09:01:19","slug":"african-fellowships-for-research-in-indigenous-and-alternative-knowledges-afriak-2026-call-for-proposals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/?p=3271","title":{"rendered":"African Fellowships for Research in Indigenous and Alternative Knowledges (AFRIAK) 2026 Call for Proposals"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><div id=\"tdi_1\" class=\"tdc-row\"><div class=\"vc_row tdi_2  wpb_row td-pb-row\" >\n<style scoped>\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n.tdi_2,\r\n                .tdi_2 .tdc-columns{\r\n                    min-height: 0;\r\n                }\n<\/style><div class=\"vc_column tdi_4  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<style scoped>\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n\n\/* custom css - generated by TagDiv Composer *\/\n.tdi_4{\r\n                    vertical-align: baseline;\r\n                }\n<\/style><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\" >[vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"post-170505\">\n<div>\n<p><strong>Deadline: February 15, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce a call for proposals for the\u00a0second cohort\u00a0of the\u00a0African Fellowships for Research in Indigenous and Alternative Knowledges (AFRIAK).\u00a0This programme is offered with the support of the Mastercard Foundation as part of the Foundation\u2019s commitment to advance education and skills for young people in Africa.<\/p>\n<p>The programme seeks to implement an innovative approach to training a new generation of young people, especially young women, to design research projects and produce knowledge in partnership with academic mentors on the one hand and bearers of indigenous knowledge on the other. This approach will privilege local, indigenous, and endogenous knowledge as forms of knowledge or knowledge systems that are deeply embedded in communities and closely tied to their lived experiences. Although these forms of knowledge may be geographically proximate to the young people in Africa, they remain inaccessible to them partly because of the dominance of Western formats of learning in our school and university curricula. They are also restricted by the gerontocratic nature of our communities, where such knowledge is preserved for a few, predominantly male knowledge-bearers. AFRIAK\u2019s approach is innovative because it redirects Africans to use what they have in their communities and invites them to appreciate the diverse ways in which what they have is applied, preserved and transmitted.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Programme Activities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The AFRIAK research and fellowship project will involve three related activities. These are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A research, training and mentorship fellowship programme for young people.<\/li>\n<li>Policy convenings.<\/li>\n<li>An alumni and community of practice in Indigenous and alternative knowledge network.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Eligibility<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Open young African nationals aged 35 and below at the time of application and who reside on the African continent.<\/li>\n<li>The targeted youth should be engaged in research and knowledge production activities that draw, or aspire to draw, on Indigenous\/local knowledge perspectives.<\/li>\n<li>They should be based in formal research and knowledge institutions or Indigenous knowledge research centres in Africa.<\/li>\n<li>Practitioners aged 35 and below, with formal education qualifications and who are actively engaged in activities that draw on the application of Indigenous\/local knowledge perspectives, are also encouraged to apply.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Application<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Individual applicants are required to provide the following information directly in the application system:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Curriculum Vitae details:<\/strong>\u00a0Applicants are expected to provide key biographical and professional information.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Concept note<\/strong>: Applicants will be required to complete a structured concept note with sections that identify and elaborate on a research topic, briefly assess the body of knowledge that illuminate the research topic, methodology and expected outcomes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reference letters<\/strong>: Applicants must attach two signed reference letters, each limited to one page, from two referees familiar with the applicant\u2019s work.\u00a0Note that reference letters are also assessed and contribute a significant portion to the success of the application<em>.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Group applications must consist of a\u00a0minimum of three and a maximum of five members, with at least 70% of the group being women. Any group member who does not meet the eligibility criteria outlined in the \u2018TARGET FOR THIS CALL\u2019 will result in the disqualification of the entire group.<\/p>\n<p>Group applicants are required to provide the following information directly in the application system: \u2013<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Curriculum Vitae details<\/strong>: Applicants are expected to provide key biographical and professional information for each of the group members.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Concept note<\/strong>: Applicants will be required to complete a structured concept note with sections that identify and elaborate on a research topic, briefly assess the body of knowledge that illuminate the research topic, methodology and expected outcomes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reference letters<\/strong>: Group applicants will be required to attach two signed reference letters, each limited to one page, from two referees familiar with the group and who endorse the group as a whole, rather than its individual members.\u00a0Note that reference letters are also assessed and contribute a significant portion to the success of the application<em>.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/codesria.org\/application-form-african-fellowships-for-research-in-indigenous-and-alternative-knowledges-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here to apply<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For more information, visit <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/codesria.org\/2026-afriak-call-for-proposals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AFRIAK<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text]<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_column_text css=\"\"] Deadline: February 15, 2026 The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce a call for proposals for the\u00a0second cohort\u00a0of the\u00a0African Fellowships for Research in Indigenous and Alternative Knowledges (AFRIAK).\u00a0This programme is offered with the support of the Mastercard Foundation as part of the Foundation\u2019s commitment [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow1K2_DA:productID":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fellowships","post_format-post-format-image"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3344,"href":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271\/revisions\/3344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opportunityforworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}