Apply for NFP and MSP (MENA) Fellowship Programmes!

Deadline: 19 October 2016

International Centre for development oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA) is seeking applications for Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP) and Middle East and North Africa Scholarship programme (MSP) Fellowship with an aim to help reduce the shortage of skilled workers or support democratic transition in specific countries.

This is initiated and fully funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the budget for development cooperation. Nuffic offers two types of fellowships:

• Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP) is a scheme initiated and fully funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the budget for Development Cooperation.
  • The overall aim of the NFP is to help alleviate qualitative and quantitative shortages of skilled manpower within a wide range of governmental, private and non-governmental organizations.
  • This by offering fellowships to mid-career professionals to improve the capacity of their employing organizations. The need for training has to be evident within the context of an organization.
• The Middle East and North Africa Scholarship Programme (MSP) offers scholarships to professionals from ten participating countries and is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  • The overall aim of the MSP is to contribute to the democratic transition in the participating countries. It also aims at building capacity within organisations by enabling employees to take part in diploma or other courses.
  • While scholarships are awarded to individuals, the need for training must be demonstrated in the context of the organisation for which the applicant works. The training must help the organisation develop its capacity.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to qualify for a NFP fellowship, applicants must:

• The candidate must be a professional and a national of, and working and living in one of the countries on the NFP country list valid at the time of application;
• The candidate must not be employed by an organisation which can be expected to have their own funds for staff development, e.g.:
  • a multinational corporation (e.g. Shell, Unilever, Microsoft)
  • a large national and/or a large commercial organisation;
  • a bilateral donor organisation (e.g. USAID, DFID, Danida, Sida, Dutch ministry of Foreign affairs, FinAid, AusAid, ADC, SwissAid);
  • a multilateral donor organisation (e.g. a UN organisation, the World Bank, the IMF, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, IADB);
  • an international NGO (e.g. Oxfam, Plan, Care).
• The candidate must have a current employer’s statement which complies with the format Nuffic has provided. All information must be provided and all commitments, which are included in the format, must be endorsed in the statement;
• The candidate must have a government statement that meets the requirements of the country in which the employer is established (if applicable);
• The candidate must have an official passport valid at least three months after the submission date of the registration form by the candidate.

In addition to the criteria mentioned above the following criteria apply for MSP:

• The candidate must be a professional and a national of, and working and living in one of the countries on the MSP country list valid at the time of application;
• The age of the MSP candidate must not exceed 45 years at the time the grant request is submitted.

How to Apply

Applicants can download the application form via given website.

Eligible Countries

• Eligible Countries for NFP: To be eligible for an NFP fellowship, applicant must be a national of and working and living in one of the 51 countries listed below. The countries have been classified into two categories. Category I countries are priority countries and will receive more fellowships.
  • Category I: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Palestine Territories, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen.
  • Category II: Albania, Armenia, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cuba, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Georgia, Guatemala, Jordan, Macedonia, Mongolia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Thailand, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
• Eligible Countries for MSP: The target group is professionals (with a maximum age of 45) who are nationals of and working in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Syria, Tunisia

For more information, please visit NFP and MSP (MENA) Fellowship.