Obama Foundation Leaders Africa Program 2026

Leaders Africa is a six-month, virtual leadership development program that seeks to build a growing network of innovative and values-based changemakers who will drive positive change in their communities, the continent, and the world. Leaders Africa is a six-month, non-residential, virtual leadership journey for 35 emerging leaders from across the continent focused on exploring values-based leadership skills and building deep relationships with fellow cohort members.

The Leaders Africa program seeks to identify exceptional leaders in public, civil society, and the private sector who have a clear issue-focus and who can illustrate the impact of their work. Our objective is to build a network of values-based leaders, who create positive, innovative change in their communities, throughout Africa, and around the world.

Table of Content

• Summary
• Benefits
• Requirements
• Interview Process
• Application Deadline
• How To Apply

Summary

• Application DeadlineDecember 12, 2025
• Study LevelTraining
• SponsorObama Foundation

Benefits

• Weekly Virtual Video Calls
  • These live virtual sessions are the primary form of collective engagement. These connections, an average of four times monthly, offer a mix of new content (conversations with experts, introductions to leadership frameworks, skill-building, etc.) and interactive, small-group work in breakout rooms.
• Monthly Community Groups
  • Leaders work in peer learning groups that encourage deeper relationship-building and peer-learning, and offer opportunities to reflect on case studies of prominent African leaders, or discuss open questions from the group sessions.
• Individualized Leadership Coaching
  • Each Leader is paired with a coach to help them gain self-awareness, clarify goals, brainstorm ideas, achieve their development objectives, and unlock their potential.

Requirements

• You must meet one of the following criteria:
• Citizen of an African country or territory OR 
• Permanent resident of an African country or territory OR 
• Have lived in an African country or territory for at least the last 5 years, regardless of citizenship or permanent residence status
• You are professionally proficient in English and you will be between 24 and 45 years of age on September 1, 2026.
• You will refrain from participating in an electoral campaign as a candidate for political office from the time you are accepted into the program through May 1, 2027.
• You can demonstrate at least 3 years of relevant experience in your issue area. 
• The Obama Foundation is based in the United States. To participate in the program, you must be under no legal or regulatory restrictions that would limit your participation in virtual Foundation programming or travel to the U.S. for in-person programming (if any).

Selection Process

• Selection decisions are currently scheduled to be sent out in June 2026.

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Application Deadline

December 12, 2025

How To Apply

Are you qualified and interested in this opportunity? Kindly go to Obama Foundation on obama.embark.com to apply

For more information, kindly visit Obama Foundation webpage.