Ayoka Fellowship-Social Innovation Lab

Puerta de África and Casa África announce the launch of the 2022 Social Innovation Lab to bridge and train African, Afrodescent and European emerging leaders. We are committed to building a community of social entrepreneurs and activists driven by the commitment to change the realities of their communities, learn to relate as equals and accelerate social change.

The 2021-2022 Social Innovation Lab will bring together 12 exceptional, emerging African, Afrodescent and Spanish young leaders from civil society and private sector, who are tackling most pressing challenges.

The goals for this first cohort of Ayoka Innovators are:

Connect: Build a peer-learning community of social innovators on a shared vision of co-leadership.

Research & Co-create: On the roots of the most pressing challenges, map global solutions and work on a collaborative innovation base to generate applicable solutions for your communities and capabilities.

Share: Participate in national and global conferences explaining the innovations you are trying to build on to inspire more young people and generate a community of Afropean changemaker’s.

Program Content:

The Research Seminar, that provides with founding principles of research and supports the young leaders to identifying the root problems of their targeted system & the most innovative global solutions to it. It includes a full-weekend virtual training session, a one month research and individual support. It will culminate in the presentation of the research to a broad public.

The Social Innovation Training, that encompasses all the basic components of Social Innovation Training. It includes weekly Full-Group Sessions with the entire cohort. In these you should expect a mix of skill-building workshops and co-creation activities.

The Implementation: during four months the young leaders will have to design an innovative path for their non-profit or social enterprise, in order to scale their impact and make a deeper change in their community. The Implementation phase includes monthly mentorship activities and peer-learning.

The International Conference: in September 2022 the cohort of young leaders will participate in an international conference where presenting their impact and engaging with fellow leaders.

Important dates:

Application: until  31 Oct, 2021

Selection & acceptance: November, 2021

Introductory meeting: January 10th, 2022

Research Seminar: January – February, 2022

Training weekly calls: February – April, 2022

Implementation & Mentoring: April, 2022 – July, 2022

International Conference: October, 2022

Important information:

• The seminars will be done Tuesdays from 19pm CET. The intensive workshops will be conducted on non-working days.
• Working language will be English
• Read the full call here
• Apply