Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme 2026 – Call for Nominations

Deadline: September 21, 2025

Nominations are open for the 2026 Tutu Fellowship Programme. On a continent blessed with outstanding young leaders, the Archbishop Tutu Fellowship Programme attracts the extraordinary young people that it does.

The flagship programme of the African Leadership Institute is the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme. Each year, around 25 high-potential individuals from across Africa are awarded the prestigious Archbishop Tutu Fellowship, following a rigorous competitive selection process. The Awards are aimed at the cream of the continent’s future leaders and specifically target the next generation of Africa’s leaders in all sectors of society, between the ages of 30 and 39. 

The ATLP is a multi-faceted leadership learning experience, whose focus is African leadership in a Global context. It is a 5-month part-time programme run in partnership with Oxford University’s Said Business School. The world-class faculty and guest speakers are drawn from both Africa and outside, and the programme incorporates modules in Africa and at Oxford, reflecting the African/Global duality of the leadership that will be required of future African leaders.

At the end of the programme, successful participants will graduate as Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellows (“Tutu Fellows”) and will be admitted into the AFLI network where Fellows can interact, engage in dialogue on leadership and strategic issues, and organise meetings and civic engagements. With the help of our sponsoring corporations, the network is a platform to challenge, encourage, and support Fellows to become active leaders in society.

Benefits

The ATLP provides participants with an intensive learning and broadening experience on the principles and application of leadership, and an opportunity to explore the issues and specific characteristics of leadership in Africa, as well as the global challenges and dimensions of leadership. The programme places emphasis on learning and experiencing, not teaching, offering a variety of formal and informal learning opportunities to enhance the leadership capabilities of the candidate. At the end of the ATLP, the Fellow will have achieved:

• A self-formed view of leadership principles and values that are most appropriate to the future African/global context and their own circumstances, which will be the model they can apply to their own leadership endeavours
• Membership of an elite network of leaders throughout Africa and beyond, committed to leading change and development on the continent.
• A breadth and depth of understanding of leadership, built upon academic research as well as the practical experiences of successful leaders, and the complexity of demands on leaders.
• A broader understanding of how leadership functions in the global arena, and the complexity of issues facing global leaders.
• A global perspective on the challenges and application of leadership within an African context, and confidence in the role they can play as a leader in both Africa and the global arena
• Practical experience of leading a project through which they will have enhanced the capabilities or circumstances of at least 25 fellow Africans.
• Interaction with African and global leaders
• A breadth of understanding of the regional and global forces and issues that will influence the decisions and behaviours of future leaders in Africa.
• A broad, systemic, strategic and visionary approach to addressing leadership issues
• Practical experience and feedback from working as part of a team of high-calibre individuals
• A better understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses as a future African leader in a global environment, and an enhanced self-awareness of their leadership capabilities and style
• They will be a more confident and wiser leader, with experiences, tools and insights that will enable them to “play” in both the African and global arenas in the 21st Century.

Eligibility

Preferred candidates for the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Programme (ATLP) are people, who, by their actions and achievements, and the values and principles by which they conduct their affairs, have demonstrated their potential as an ethical leader committed to contributing to positive change and development of the continent. We are seeking exceptional emerging African leaders – people who are expected to be the top level leaders in their sphere of activity in the next 5 to 10 years if they are not already in that position, and who are actively engaged in making Africa a better place to live.

They will be between 30 and 39 years of age.  They must be older than 30 on 30 April 2026 and younger than 40 years on 30 April 2026. These are hard limits.

Candidates can come from any sector of society – business, government or civil society. Candidates nominated and selected for the programme must demonstrate many of the following characteristics:

• Ability to Inspire others to believe in themselves and the cause; to liberate and empower others to succeed
• Committed to serving their constituency (stakeholders/cause) and community, ahead of self-gratification
• Confident, optimistic, with high expectations and high energy
• Courage to take risks – be prepared to fail; challenge the status quo; do things that may be unpopular
• Determination and strong professional will
• High values, standards and ethics
• Humility – chosen to lead rather than a self-imposed leader
• Visionary, strategic and forward thinking – leading for a better future
• Systemic thinker – ability to assimilate, simplify and channel complex inter-connected forces to advantage
• Empathy and a strong relationship builder

Candidates must be citizens of an African country, and must be currently living in Africa, or temporarily placed abroad by their employer or completing further education abroad or working on African projects for a global organisation. They should be committed to living in Africa and to actively contributing to its long-term success. There can be some flexibility on African citizenship if the candidate has lived in Africa for more than 10 years and is genuinely committed to living on the continent. We are keen to seek candidates who may not otherwise have access to such a leadership training opportunity.

Nomination Details

AFLI accepts only one nomination per nominee. Nominators, please check first with your potential candidate to see if they have already been nominated. For individuals wanting to be considered, please work closely with your Nominator to ensure a powerful nomination is submitted in good time for consideration for the programme. Please read the information at the PROGRAMME menu about the programme and the selection process. Nominators, please also read the FAQs before filling out the nomination form.   

Click here to nominate.

The deadline when nominations close is midnight South Africa time on 21 September 2025.  (This Sunday).

For more information, visit Tutu fellowship.