WE Africa’s purpose is to put women leaders in Africa at the heart of transforming the environmental movement through inclusive, collective leadership. WE Africa was born through our frustration that the joint crises of biodiversity loss and the climate emergency also reflect a crisis and lack of diversity in leadership that needs urgent attention.
WE lead is our 12-month annual leadership experience for women environmental leaders in Africa. The program has been designed by leadership experts and co-created with our WE Africa fellows since 2021 and is grounded in our pillars of personal leadership, wellbeing, relationships for collaboration and peacebuilding, visibility for impact and radical imagination. On graduating from the WE lead experience the WE Africa fellows join our WE move community, which is as our path to scale our impact through collective action and paying it forward.
We are now accepting applications for the WE Africa 2025 Cohort
Aim and Benefits of WE Africa’s Leadership Program
Membership in a community of passionate, experienced African women who are some of the most senior leaders in the environmental sector today.
Access to twelve months of 1:1 leadership coaching
An opportunity to create a new leadership vision for yourself and to pursue personalized leadership development activities to realize that vision.
Weekly two hour online sessions designed to complement your work
Two in-person retreats for intensive community-building and personal and collective growth
Requirements for WE Africa’s Leadership Program Qualification
WE lead is for women who meet the following criteria:
African nationals, current citizens of a country in Africa, or those who have had permanent residency in Africa for a minimum of 15 years.
A minimum of 8 years of experience working in the environmental space in government, NGO, or private sector in Africa including at least 3 years serving in a senior leadership role*.
A commitment to investing in your personal growth and participation for the full 12-month program.
A record of mentorship and desire to support future environmental leaders
Access to reliable internet.
Ability to manage your calendar to attend one 2 hour online session each week at a set time, as well as 1 hour coaching sessions every 2-3 weeks as agreed on with your coach.
Support and buy-in from your organisation or direct report, if necessary to enable your full participation in the different aspects of the programme.
A commitment to contribute USD $500 as a registration fee towards the cost of the program and approximately $1500 towards your travel to retreats (all fellows are equally sponsored for their participation to the value of $11, 500/ per person) **
If you do not meet the requirements from the second point above, you may provide an explanation in the application below about why you believe you are eligible.
The WE Africa Xolelwa Hlalu Scholarship Fund provides a limited number of registration and travel scholarships. These are assessed on a case by case basis according to need.
Interview date, Process and Venue for WE Africa’s Leadership Program
Please note the timeline for this year’s application review process:
01 July – Application Open
16 August – Deadline for Application Submissions
19 September – Candidates Notified for Interviews
10-12th October – Final Round Interview conducted
15 November – Public announcement of 2025 Fellows
Application Deadline: August 16, 2024
How to Apply
Interested and qualified? Go to Women for the Environment Africa on womenforenvironment.org to apply
Please note: The deadline for applications is Friday, 16 August by midnight East Africa Time.
If you have questions about this application, please contact us at: applications@womenforenvironment.org. Otherwise please click the button below to view and complete the Application Form.
To learn more about WE Africa’s yearlong transformative leadership journey, please take some time to review our program Road Map, see our current Fellows and watch this watch this video from our Fellows about WE Africa.
For more details, visit WE website
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