Across 31 African countries, 140 women who have completed professional placements through the African Young Women Leaders (AfYWL) Fellowship Programme are now shaping policy, building or strengthening institutions and leading change in their communities, across the continent and around the world. Today, that network has a home online: the AfYWL Fellowship Alumni Platform, launched to keep fellows connected long after their fellowship year ends.

A network that outlives the fellowship

Established in 2019 as a joint initiative between the African Union Commission (AUC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the AfYWL Fellowship Programme was designed to cultivate a new generation of African women leaders with the experience, skills and networks to advance the Sustainable Development Goals and Africa's Agenda 2063. Four cohorts later, the fellowship's impact is best measured not by the programme year itself, but by the change fellows continue to lead afterwards.

The new platform gives that ongoing work a permanent home. It brings together alumni across cohorts, countries and causes, offering a public face for the programme's story and a private space where fellows can reconnect, mentor one another and build on the relationships formed during their fellowship.

What's on the platform

The site is designed to both share the AfYWL Fellowship’s story with the public and strengthen connections among its alumni. Visitors can explore the programme’s history, purpose and impact through the About section, discover fellows’ experiences and achievements through a collection of stories and publications — including AMANI, UBUNTU and HERstory — and follow the network’s latest activities through the News & Events section. For fellows, a dedicated members-only area gives alumni a place to connect directly with one another, building on the professional and personal networks the fellowship year began.

Leadership, with heart

Ahunna Eziakonwa, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director for the Regional Bureau for Africa, has described the fellowship as nurturing women to lead not only with ambition, but with integrity and compassion, always keeping communities and the future in view.

H.E. Selma Malika Haddadi, Deputy Chairperson of the AUC, has described the fellowship as a shining example of UNDP and the AUC’s shared commitment to nurturing a new generation of African women leaders prepared to shape the continent’s future, placing fellows at the heart of Agenda 2063’s vision of an Africa driven by its women and youth.

The network, by the numbers

• 140 alumni fellows
• 31 African countries represented
• 3 cohorts, with a fourth cohort completing their fellowship year in 2026

Join the story

The AfYWL Fellowship Alumni Platform is now live at www.afywlalumni.org. Visit the site to read fellows' stories, explore the programme's history and see how a fellowship year has grown into a continental network.