Over the last decades, Africa has experienced intense research and policy activities in various sectors especially health, agriculture, energy, science and technology, and lately climate change among others. However, research in the continent remains uncoordinated, with little in-continent learning and poor networking among researchers. The continent lacks impact networks – i.e. dedicated platforms for bringing African researchers and policymakers to engage in periodic dialogue, learning, and capability building towards creating research and policy impact.

Consequently, there is little understanding of best research practices and impact practices taking place in various African contexts and what works or not. It is in this context that the ARIN Network launched the ARIN Fellowship program which brings together over 200 researchers from thirty-eight countries in Sub- Saharan Africa. The fellowship program consists of a network of talented researchers and technocrats across Africa who have been undertaking research in various fields including natural resource management, climate change, agriculture, forestry, energy, water, and cities to leverage their knowledge and experiences in promoting research excellence and impact pathways.

The program is focused on peer learning and sharing good transformative research and impact practices across Africa. The ARIN Fellowship program therefore, seeks to identify, and leverage key research talents to flexibly and innovatively contribute to Africa’s research transformation. Additionally, the fellowship program champions inclusion and equity throughout its activities and has largely accommodated and actively involved women and girls, people with disabilities, youth, and several other researchers from the most vulnerable communities in Africa.