Australia Awards Fellowships aim to develop leadership, address priority regional development issues, and build partnerships and links between Australian organisations and their partner organisations in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East.
Australia Awards Fellowships engage with a wide cross-section of the Australian community on aid delivery issues and priorities for development. Through Australia Awards Fellowships, Australian organisations have the opportunity to build and strengthen links with organisations in developing countries by offering professional development opportunities in Australia.
The goal of Australia Awards Fellowships is to develop appropriately trained current and aspiring leaders in priority areas, who, in the short to medium term, will be in a position to advance key regional policy objectives and increase institutional capacity of partner countries. Australia Awards Fellowships are designed to complement individual bilateral country programs by offering flexible learning opportunities that address current and emerging needs at the country, sub-regional and regional levels.
Australia Awards Fellowships do not lead to academic qualifications. Instead, they are designed to provide short term opportunities for study, research and professional attachment programs in Australia, delivered by Australian organisations, to nominated fellows from eligible countries.
Through Australia Awards Fellowships, Australian organisations can apply for funding to support a range of professional development activities that will build expertise and leadership capacity in eligible countries.
Applications are accepted from Australian organisations only; individuals are not eligible to apply.
Eligible applicants
Australian organisations
This video provides more information on Australia Awards Fellowships (formerly ALA Fellowships) and how to apply. It also includes a case study on a fellowship delivered by the Burnet Institute and funded by AusAID. This fellowship was designed to develop the knowledge, skills and professional contacts of eleven health officials from Malaria prone districts of Nepal. It aimed to help them achieve the goal of eliminating malaria in their communities.
Watch this video on YouTube
Applications are restricted to Australian organisations that can demonstrate ongoing linkages with overseas counterpart organisations in
eligible countries.
Examples of eligible Australian organisations include NGOs, academic institutions, research organisations, business, industry, media, professional associations and government agencies.
Australian organisations can apply for Australia Awards Fellowships funding through a competitive grant process. Important selection criteria include:
- the likely impact of the program or activities
- the leadership potential and quality of nominated fellows to assume leadership roles and influence policy reform and development outcomes
- the level of support from the overseas counterpart organisation(s) and the sustainability of linkages between the Australian organisation and the overseas counterpart organisation(s) and fellows
- the capacity of the Australian organisation to support the program or activities.
Overseas counterpart organisations and individual fellows must be sponsored by an Australian organisation, and may not apply directly for Australia Awards Fellowships. They may, however, initiate contact with an Australian organisation to explore the organisation’s interest in applying for fellowship funding.
Australia Awards Fellowships support a wide variety of areas and sectors. Australian organisations are encouraged to design programs that address priority areas, including disability and development, economic growth, education, environment, food security, gender, governance, health, human rights, infrastructure, mining for development, regional stability, rural development and water and sanitation.
Organisations funded under previous rounds [PDF 138kb]
Organisations funded under previous rounds [Word 70kb]
Fellows
Prospective fellows identified by Australian organisations must be from an
eligible country.
Typically, they will be professionals already in leadership positions or have a potential to assume leadership roles that can influence social and economic policy reform and development outcomes. Fellows must be supported by their counterpart organisation to participate in the fellowship.
Prospective fellows must also be eligible to enter Australia on an AusAID 576 Student Visa for the duration of the fellowship. It is the responsibility of the Australian organisation to ensure fellows are issued with the appropriate visa in enough time to participate in the proposed fellowship activities.
Please see Section 6 of the Round 14 Fellowship submission guidelines for the full list of fellow eligibility criteria.
Individuals cannot apply for Australia Awards Fellowships directly. Individuals may be eligible for
other Australia Awards (external website).
Submission guidelines
Australia Awards Fellowships are awarded twice yearly through a competitive selection process. The Australia Awards Fellowships submission guidelines provide detailed information on the application process.
Round 14 Fellowship submission guidelines
How to apply for Australia Awards Fellowships funding
Application process
An eligible application consists of the following:
- A completed online application form submitted by the date specified.
The form must include all mandatory attachments (listed below) and be checked and acknowledged at Page 21 by the appropriate Australian organisation office bearer with the authority to commit the organisation to the funding and proposed program.
- Documents required to be attached to the online application form (you MUST use the following AusAID templates; templates are also accessible from within the online application form):
- A detailed and accurate budget based on the template provided (Excel template preferred): Fellowships budget template.
The following documents may assist in developing your budget:
- A curriculum vitae (CV) for each nominated fellow, incorporating individual 'return to work plans', based on the template provided (Word template preferred):
Fellowships CV template
- A letter of support from each overseas counterpart organisation, signed at a senior level (no template—if the letters of support are not attached, the application will automatically be deemed ineligible)
- An unbound printed hard-copy of your application, including the online submission review page and copies of all supporting documents, should be received by AusAID at the address below by the date specified:
Australia Awards Fellowships Secretariat
AusAID
GPO Box 887
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Street address for courier:
255 London Circuit
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Emailed or faxed applications will not be accepted.
Additional resources
Additional resources to assist in preparing or acquitting your application:
- Adviser Remuneration Framework
- Activity Completion Report [Word 120kb]
- Guidelines on returning unspent funds to AusAID
Fact sheet
Read the Australia Awards Fellowships fact sheet for a summary of the program.
If after reading all materials on this website, you still have questions, please email all enquiries to
fellowships@ausaid.gov.au