[AfrICANN-discuss] African Open Government Fellowships

Sat Dec 6 17:55:52 UTC 2014

Dear all,

The following fellowships might be of interest to those working on Open
Government.

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Best Regards,

*Ephraim Percy Kenyanito*

Website: http://about.me/ekenyanito

http://opengovfellows.codeforafrica.org/open-knowledge-and-code-for...
<http://opengovfellows.codeforafrica.org/open-knowledge-and-code-for-africa-launch-open-government-fellowship-programme-applications-open-now/>
Pioneering Fellowships Will Help Rewire Africa’s Governments
*(Application deadline:  15 December 2014)*
Do you want to help us build African governments and societies that are
more accountable and responsive to citizens?
We are looking for the best ideas for harnessing the power of digital
technologies and open data, to improve the way that governments and
citizens interact.
*Code for Africa* <http://www.codeforafrica.org/> and *Open Knowledge*
<https://okfn.org/> are offering three pilot *Open Government Fellowships* to
give outstanding changemakers the skills, tools and resources necessary to
kickstart open government initiatives in their countries.
The six-month fellowships are intended to empower pioneers who are already
working in the open data or civic engagement communities, and are designed
to augment their existing ‘day jobs’ rather than remove them from their
organisations. Successful fellows will therefore only be expected to work
part-time on their fellowship projects (which could include new initiatives
at their ‘day jobs’), but will receive strategic and material support
throughout their fellowship.
This support will include a modest $1,000 per month stipend, a $3,000 seed
fund to kickstart projects, a travel budget to attend local and
international events, access to workspace in *Code for Africa* affiliate
civic technology labs across the continent, and technology support from *Code
for Africa* developers and data analysts. Fellows will also be able to tap
into *Open Knowledge*’s School of Data <http://schoolofdata.org/> networks
and resource kits, and its global network of specialist communities
<https://okfn.org/get-involved/working-groups/>, as well as *Code for
Africa* affiliate communities such as Hacks/Hackers
<https://www.facebook.com/HacksHackersAfrica>.
The deadline for applications is 15 December 2014. The fellowships are
scheduled to start in February 2015 and run until July 2015.
So, who qualifies for the fellowship? The initiative is a pilot, and is
therefore casting the net as wide as possible. Applicants should:

   - Currently be engaged in the open government and/or related communities
   . We are looking to support individuals already actively participating in
   the open government community
   - Be able to point to examples of their work in the civic data or civic
   technology space, or work in open data or open government communities
   - Understand the role of civil society and citizen based organisations
   in bringing about positive change through advocacy and campaigning
   - Understand the role and importance of monitoring government
   commitments to open data as well as other open government policy related
   issues
   - Have facilitation skills and enjoy community-building (both online and
   offline)
   - Be eager to learn from and be connected with an international
   community of open government experts, advocates and campaigners
   - Currently live and work in Africa. Due to limited resources and our
   desire to develop a focused and impactful pilot programme, we are limiting
   applications to those currently living and working in Africa. We hope to
   expand the programme to the rest of the world in 2015.

The fellowship will initially be limited to African countries where
either *Code
for Africa* or *Open Knowledg*e have extensive resources or deep
partnerships. Applicants should therefore be based in one of the following
countries:  *Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco,
Mozambique,* *Mauritius**, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal,
Tunisia, Tanzania,* and *Uganda*. We hope to expand the initiative to
include additional countries later in 2015.
The selection committee will pay particular attention to applicants’ *current
engagement in the open government movement* at local, national and/or
international level. The committee will also be interested in applicants’
ideas around proposed strategic partnerships and pilot projects for their
fellowships. Neither *Code for Africa* nor *Open Knowledge* are being
prescriptive about the proposed focus or scope for projects, but will
prefer projects that demonstrate clear visions with tangible outputs. This
could include fellows working with a specific government department or
agency to make a key dataset available. It could also include helping
communities use available data, or organising a series of events addressing
a specific topic or challenge citizens are currently facing.
Successful candidates will commit to work on their fellowship activities a
minimum of six days a month, including attending online and offline
training, organising events, and being an active member both *Open
Knowledge* and *Code for Africa* communities.
While the pilot fellowships are limited to 16 countries initially, we are
exploring ways to expand it to other regions. Get in touch if you would
like to work with us to do so.
*Convinced?* *Apply now to become a Open Government Fellow**. The
application is available* *here*
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16keAH2ygafUN2jcIYm_k1agv6QIQCGfOJ_6oU46X1kg/viewform?usp=send_form>*.
If you are more comfortable submitting your application in French or
Portuguese, you will find it in* *French here*
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1YTPYIWUrnJcUUIbPs9rgDOFih09xNOw04u4YYUr6_j4/viewform?usp=send_form>
 *and in* *Portuguese here*
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1r4L-90VLUIrGXyWJicix-FDZsQ0ElAZtxvegmgcD3cg/viewform?usp=send_form>*.
The deadline is 15 December 2014 and the programme will start in February
2015.*

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--

Best Regards,

*Ephraim Percy Kenyanito*
Website: http://about.me/ekenyanito
tel: (+254)-786-191-930 / (+254)-751-804-120
@ekenyanito
Skype: ekenyanito
PGP: E6BA8DC1
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