Cultivating Inclusion for Food Security: Application for the French-speaking cohort of the Cultivate fellowship is now open(Fully-funded by USAID)

Application for the French-speaking cohort of the Cultivate fellowship is now open!

What is the Cultivate Fellowship ?

Presented by the Gender and Youth Activity (GAYA) , the Cultivate fellowship is a capacity-building opportunity for field-based implementers of emergency and resilient food security programs interested in gender and youth inclusion.
Over a six-month period, a cohort of 16-20 members will participate in virtual preparatory meetings and an in-person workshop, followed by bi-weekly online meetings and independent work to develop innovative solutions to increase gender and youth inclusion in their programs.

The Cultivate Fellowship supports participants (or fellows ) in exploring how qualitative inquiry can deepen our understanding of inclusive resilience dynamics and apply this knowledge through innovative and transformative program designs. Through the fellowship, participants will use qualitative methods to explore program-specific questions focused on inclusive resilience dynamics, in order to:

• Explore how context analysis, systems thinking and qualitative inquiry tools can deepen their understanding of inclusive resilience dynamics .
• Conduct a qualitative survey in their own program, including:
  • Data collection ;
  • Analysis of the results;
  • Convening a team for collective interpretation, reflection and decision-making on how to apply the learnings within the program; and
  • Revising learning questions, processes and tools based on the reflections, in order to use them more broadly to explore the dynamics of inclusive resilience in the programme.
• Engaging with and learning from peers – through fellows in this cohort and, ultimately, the Cultivate Alumni network .

Who should apply?

Potential candidates should apply as a pair working within the same program, ideally representing:

• Candidate 1: Gender, youth and/or social inclusion components, or equivalent (ideally the social inclusion manager)
• Candidate 2: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and/or Collaboration, Learning and Adaptation (CLA) or equivalent in adaptive management (ideally MEL or CLA manager) 

This cohort is aimed at French-speaking gender, youth, MEL and CLA leaders of emergency programs and resilience and food security activities (RFSA) funded by the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) or other USAID strategic partners within French-speaking teams located in Africa and Haiti .

Throughout 2025-2026, GAYA will organize cohorts for implementers from other regions. GAYA will organize a cohort for Spanish-speaking implementers in 2026.

What is expected of participants?

• The Fellows Program/Activity will fund travel expenses (i.e. travel, accommodation, per diem) related to participation in the in-person workshop in May 2025, likely in Dakar, Senegal.
• Fellows will participate in a series of activities spread over six months ( March to September 2025 ), including, but not limited to :
  • Virtual preparatory meetings,
  • A 5-day in-person workshop,
  • Bi-weekly virtual meetings after the workshop,
  • Formal and informal technical mentoring calls,
  • A virtual learning event.
• During the fellowship , fellows (with support from peers and other technical mentors) will conduct a qualitative inquiry focused on inclusive resilience within their program/activity, including, but not limited to:
  • Collaborate with program management and technical leads to identify a challenge and associated learning question.
  • Develop and implement a process and tools for qualitative research.
  • Collect and analyze data collected using these qualitative survey tools.
  • Conduct an interpretation process to discuss the results of the qualitative survey.
  • Integrate the results of the qualitative survey into the program.
  • Document project learnings and results.
  • Share the results of their qualitative survey at the final learning event.

What are the key dates?

For the current cohort: (Dates are subject to change)

• Application deadline: December 4, 2024
• Closing date for applications: January 12, 2025
• GAYA is organizing pre-selection calls with management on an ongoing basis from January 13 to 24
• Selected participants will be notified by February 14 and must confirm their participation by February 28.
• Virtual preparatory sessions from March to May (4 sessions in total)
• The five-day in-person workshop in West Africa (likely Dakar, Senegal) will take place in May (likely the week of May 19)
• Virtual sessions for 6-8 weeks following the in-person workshop, including a virtual learning event with program leadership (last session tentatively scheduled for September 2025)
• Post- fellowship call with managers and fellows end of 2025
• Alumni Network Activities Following Fellowship Completion

How to apply?

To be considered for the next Cultivate Fellowship cohort , please download and complete this comprehensive application by Sunday, January 12, 2025. For questions, contact GAYACultivateFellowship@gmail.com.

Access the application 

Apply here    Click Here for English

Frequently Asked Questions | Frequently Asked Questions

Questions? Email: gayacultivatefellowship@gmail.com