Apply for the (CFJ) Clooney Foundation for Justice’s Waging Justice for Women (WJW) Fellowship program for Early-Career African Women Lawyers 2025
CFJ Invites Applications for 2nd Year of Fellowship for Women Lawyers in Africa
After a successful first year, the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) launched the second year of its Waging Justice for Women Fellowship today. Ten early-career women lawyers in Africa will receive an annual salary funded by CFJ and an opportunity to work with leading human rights organizations across Africa to promote gender justice for women and girls. The Fellowship is administered in partnership with the Legal Empowerment Fund at the Fund for Global Human Rights.
Across the world, women and girls continue to face discrimination, injustice, inequality, and violations of their rights. CFJ’s Waging Justice for Women Fellowship program aims to equip the next generation of women lawyers with the tools and resources they need to advance the rights of women and girls in their communities.
Applications for the Fellowship are now open. Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed in October and begin their placements in January 2025.
About the Clooney Foundation for Justice’s Waging Justice for Women Initiative:
Waging Justice for Women helps women and girls access justice and advocate for their rights when those rights are violated. Along with key partner organizations, WJW is working to overturn laws that allow child marriage, to end legal barriers to girls’ education, and reform laws that either permit or fail to criminalize sexual and gender-based violence. With its partners, WJW establishes women-for-women legal aid clinics that provide free legal support to women. The WJW Fellowship program for early-career African women lawyers empowers the next generation of women’s rights lawyers, in eight different countries in Africa. The Fellowship is planning to expand its geographical scope in future.
Program Overview
CFJ’s Waging Justice for Women Fellowship Program is administered in partnership with the Legal Empowerment Fund at the Fund for Global Human Rights.
The Fellowship offers an annual salary and an opportunity to work with leading human rights organizations on gender justice. Fellows support at least one strategic litigation case designed to advance women and girls’ rights in national, regional or international courts or UN mechanisms. Fellows should expect to be based in the home country of their host organization and have the right to work in that country.
The ten host organizations partnering with CFJ on the Fellowship Program in 2025 are:
- AdvocAid, Sierra Leone
- Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL), Liberia
- Centre for Human Rights Education Advice and Assistance (CHREAA), Malawi
- Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa
- Female Lawyers Association Gambia (FLAG), The Gambia
- Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA), South Africa
- Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA), The Gambia
- Katiba Institute, Kenya
- Pan-African Lawyers Union (PALU), Tanzania
- Women Lawyers Association (WLA), Malawi
These programs expose Fellows to a diverse array of women leaders as well as strong peer support networks, which provide added support and inspiration as they pursue public interest work to advance the rights of women, girls, and marginalized communities. CFJ’s Waging Justice for Women Fellowship Program also organizes events with leading women lawyers and judges focused on promoting women in leadership, celebrating the contributions of Africa’s leading women in law, and facilitating discussions about how to accelerate progress on gender justice and equality. We also host events and trainings with peer institutions, including the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance, to connect our respective Fellows and enable emerging African leaders from different fields to come together to devise innovative solutions to the issues facing women and girls.
Fellowship Qualifications
A qualifying law degree
Practice Certificate:
- Admitted to practice as a lawyer in at least one of the countries of the host organizations
- Fellows must be admitted to practice as a lawyer in the respective country of their host organization of choice
Work experience:
- At least two years of post-qualification experience in the legal field. (As this fellowship is for early-career women lawyers, we will be less likely to consider women with more than five years of legal experience post-qualification)
- Experience in women’s rights and working in human rights organizations preferred
Citizenship or work authorization:
- In either Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, or Liberia
- Costs relating to international relocation and acquiring work authorization cannot be supported
Skills/competencies:
- Experience working with survivors and/or impacted communities
- Experience integrating gender and child-sensitive perspectives into substantive work
- Interest in gender equality and women’s rights
- Commitment to the mission and goals of the Clooney Foundation for Justice and relevant host organizations
- A demonstrated ability to conduct complex legal analysis and fact-finding
- Excellent research, writing and verbal communication skills
- Self-starter with excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills
- Demonstrated commitment to social justice and human rights and creativity in crafting strategies to advance justice in our priority areas
- Willingness to travel
- Fluency in English required; proficiency in other working languages relevant to the countries of host organizations preferred
Contact Us
If you have any questions or have technical issues arise in completing the application, please email [email protected].
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