Africa as a whole has a myriad of challenges and it is becoming increasingly important – and urgent – to adopt approaches that provide the opportunity for better outcomes and improved equity. The challenges need home-grown solutions that are developed as a result of the joint participation of the people, stakeholders, and designers, as well as other stakeholders, that have a unique understanding of context and culture. There has been an increasing interest in applying human-centred design (HCD) in the creation of innovative solutions as a crucial element of the process. This process stresses the need to place the continent’s unique needs, people, and processes at the centre of developing innovative solutions to address those needs. 

With this increasing interest comes an increase in demand for expertise in HCD in the continent. The need for talent with this skill is why CcHUB has initiated this fellowship. HCD is not a skill on its own, and to be truly effective, any discipline with an interest in building a career in impact is urged to apply. The role of design and innovation in solving some of the biggest development challenges and systemic problems in Africa is a given and this program aims to improve this essential capacity and technical expertise in this field.

The CcHUB Design Fellowship is a 6-month immersive training program for mid-level practitioners looking to further improve the economic prosperity in Africa through design-inspired innovations. The Fellows will participate in a program aimed at:

• Incorporating Human-Centered Design (HCD) into how public agencies, civil society organizations, and corporates solve problems,
• Exploiting technology to improve services, products, and processes,
• Building partnerships and relationships to collaboratively solve significant social and business challenges.

The fellowship will enable the fellows to learn about the HCD mindsets, processes, and tools through immersive inquiry learning supported by experts and seasoned designers. The fellowship will also allow participants to contribute to the co-design of solutions, innovations, and projects within CcHUB. 

To begin with, the fellows will be a part of a one-month boot camp where they’ll be exposed to immersive learning with mentors where they are trained and exposed to different HCD tools. The boot camp will also include sessions to introduce fellows to project management concepts. The fellows will engage in a combination of classroom work, fieldwork, and group work to assess how well they grasp the concepts being taught and will also learn about building prototypes, leadership styles, systems thinking, storytelling, etc.

The fellowship is open to Africans who:

• Are mid-level practitioners
• Are looking to bring existing skills to solving problems
• Can embrace failure
• Are eager to learn and implement learnings to real, tangible issues
• Can work in a fast and dynamic environment.

If this is you, kindly apply here: