Objectives

The Fellowship seeks to:

• Develop African public health leaders who can navigate complex political, social, economic, and institutional environments.
• Strengthen leadership capacity in global health diplomacy, governance, ethics, and systems thinking.
• Equip fellows to design, lead, and evaluate sustainable, equity-focused health policies and programmes.
• Build a strong pan-African network of leaders working across sectors, disciplines, and borders.
• Promote African-led and Afrocentric approaches to leadership, innovation, and public health transformation.

Guiding Principles

The Fellowship is guided by the following principles:

• African-owned and African-led leadership: advancing solutions that are rooted in African realities and priorities.
• Pan-African collaboration: strengthening networks across countries, regions, institutions, and sectors.
• Ethical and accountable leadership: promoting integrity, inclusion, equity, and responsible decision-making.
• Systems-oriented thinking: preparing leaders to address complex health challenges through coordinated, long-term approaches.
• Learning through practice: linking leadership development to real-world public health challenges through the Leadership Challenge Project.
• Global relevance, local grounding: developing leaders who can engage globally while remaining deeply connected to country and community needs.

Expected Outcomes

Through the Fellowship, participants are expected to:

• Demonstrate stronger leadership, communication, diplomacy, and strategic decision-making skills.
• Apply systems thinking to address complex public health challenges.
• Lead institutional and country-level initiatives that improve health outcomes.
• Build and sustain partnerships across governments, public health institutions, academia, civil society, and development partners.
• Contribute to  Africa CDC’s vision of advancing African health security and sovereignty
• Join a growing alumni network of African public health leaders committed to peer learning, mentorship, and continental collaboration.

Programme Structure

The Fellowship is delivered through a rich and practical learning model that includes:

• Residential learning sessions hosted in Addis Ababa and other African locations.
• Virtual learning modules supported through a learning management system.
• Executive coaching informed by psychometric and 360-degree assessments.
• Mentorship to support leadership growth and project implementation.
• Leadership Challenge Projects, where fellows design and implement practical initiatives relevant to their national or institutional context.
• Peer learning, site visits, and cultural exchange to promote collaboration and broaden leadership perspectives.
• Participation in major public health platforms, including the Conference on Public Health in Africa.