AWARD GROW Fellowship 2026 Opens for Women in Research

The 2026 AWARD Gender-Responsive and Women-Led Research and Development (GROW) Fellowship Program is now accepting applications to boost gender-responsive agricultural research and the involvement of women scientists in crop breeding in sub-Saharan Africa. The fellowship aims to tackle the gender gap in agricultural research and encourage inclusive innovation with a focus on the needs of women and men smallholder farmers.

The GROW Fellowship is a non-residential leadership and career development program designed to increase the presence, leadership and professional growth of women breeders. The program aims to empower women scientists to build their capacity in technical, leadership, and gender responsive research skills to positively affect agricultural research, shape policy discussions, and participate in food systems transformation in the continent.

The project addresses two major challenges that the African agriculture sector is facing, namely the few female plant breeders in the continent and the low uptake of improved plant breeding technologies among female smallholder farmers. The program targets to train and support institutions to build breeding-led agricultural innovations that are more aligned to the priorities and needs of diverse farming communities.

The fellowship will be approximately 48 women breeders to be selected from a competitive open application process, representing one of 2 cohorts which are planned across Africa. The chosen fellows will participate in a comprehensive professional development program, which will include leadership training, technical capacity building in gender-responsive breeding practices.

Key Highlights:

• Applications open for the 2026 AWARD GROW Fellowship for 48 women breeders across Africa
• Empowers women scientists through leadership, mentoring, and gender-responsive breeding training
• Strengthens research institutions in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda to advance inclusive agricultural innovation

During the fellowship, participants will complete a Women's Leadership and Negotiation Skills Course to enhance their self-confidence, decision making and leadership skills. Fellows will also have access to a mentoring program designed to link them to skilled professionals in agriculture research. Moreover, knowledge fora and peer learning sessions will enable women scientists from different countries and institutions to collaborate, network and share ideas.

The GROW Fellowship in addition to individual capacity building takes a systems-based approach, working with agricultural research organizations and universities to embed gender-responsive breeding into their academic programs and research programs. This institutional development package is designed to establish capacity-building for inclusive crop improvement for the long-term, and build a sustainable pipeline of future women breeders.

The institutional interventions will be targeted at institutional groups in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda. The participating institutions are the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Mekelle University (Ethiopia), the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and Egerton University (Kenya), the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) and the National Root Crops Research Institute (Nigeria), and Makerere University (Uganda).

The GROW Fellowship is designed to create a legacy of institutional change through leadership development that will make agricultural research more inclusive and responsive to the challenges of smallholder farmers. The program ultimately aims to build a more robust network of women leaders in crop breeding and to ensure that the innovations for agriculture will help achieve food security, resilience, and sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa.

Women breeders from around the continent are invited to apply and join in this movement that aims to further the innovation of gender-responsive agricultural research and inclusive innovation for the continent's future.