Lead education innovation in East Africa.
Become a Metis Fellow.

The 21st century requires skills like critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. But many of our schools rely on rote-learning. This must change. Because only by giving our children a better education can we build a better world.

Won’t you join us?

Through our 6-month Fellowship program, Metis identifies East African education leaders with a vision for transforming teaching and learning. We then provide the tools, resources, mentors, and community necessary to bring their innovations to life.

To date, we’ve supported 160 fellows, who create high-quality learning experiences impacting 4,000,000 learners across Kenya. With Metis support, Fellows start and strengthen schools, programs, and technology.

Meet previous Fellows here. Meet our global network of Metis Mentors here.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the Metis Fellowship you must:

Lead change within a nonprofit, private or public school, government agency, edtech company, funding organization, or research institution

Be a Kenyan, Ugandan, Tanzanian, or Rwandese national currently residing in your respective country or a refugee living in East Africa

Participate fully:

Participate in virtual monthly Communities of Learning

Be available in-person for our fellowship retreat in Nairobi County from 1st - 4th June and September 8th for an in-person Community of Learning. If shortlisted, you will also be required to attend the virtual Finalist Day (via Zoom) on 29th April.

Dedicate approximately 15+ hours per month of work on your initiative both virtually and in person.

Make your financial contribution in a timely manner. The cost to attend the Metis Fellowship is Ksh 300,000. Metis offers scholarships ranging from Ksh 50,000 to Ksh 280,000. All applicants are eligible to submit a scholarship application as part of the fellowship application. Note: Our selection process is need-blind and we only use the information provided in the scholarship application to award scholarships to applicants who are successful in getting admitted into the fellowship program. 95% of Fellows receive a scholarship.

What are thematic tracks available in this fellowship?

The Metis Collective is composed of individuals and institutions working across the education sector. Each year, we select specific thematic areas and support leaders innovating within those areas, enabling greater collaboration and peer learning. For the 2023 cohort, we will support education leaders advancing:

Foundational Numeracy and Literacy: Do you support learners in mastering the building blocks of more advanced learning? Do you build literacy and/or numeracy skills?

This track supports leaders whose organizations, schools, programs, policies, technology, research, or other innovations advance foundational learning for learners of any age—from early childhood to adulthood.

Girls and Women’s Employability: Do you bridge gender disparities by supporting girls and women with skills for entrepreneurship or employability? Do you equip girls/women with opportunities and support to earn a livelihood?

This track supports leaders whose organizations, schools, programs, policies, technology, research, or other innovations advance girls' and women’s ability to earn a livable wage and thrive economically.

Gender Justice and Climate Resilience: Do you lead an education initiative supporting women and girls to adapt to climate change? Do you support their leadership in climate resilience decision-making? Do you engage girls and women in sustainable natural resource management?

This track supports leaders whose organizations, schools, programs, policies, technology, research, or other innovations that advance both gender and climate justice.

How do I select a thematic track for the fellowship?

Many interested applicants will have solutions that address the intersectionality of these issues. You may find that your work aligns with 2 or 3 of the thematic tracks. This is okay! Select the track that most closely aligns with your interest, passion, and goal, knowing you do not have to fit in one track over another neatly.

Apply to be a Fellow

What’s in it for you?

Get ready for a transformational 6 months in which you will learn about the human-centered design process, impact evaluation and communication, fundraising, and building a sustainable program or organization. The Fellowship includes both in-person and synchronous and asynchronous virtual components.

In your six months as a Metis fellow, you will

gain access to:

Curriculum: Receive guidance in the METIS Way, a design-thinking approach to strengthen your education innovation. Other focus areas
are:
Building a Sustainable Innovation: Education leaders build their business models, analyse their unit economics, and master financial planning, all tailored to refine and scale their innovations.

Monitoring and Evaluation: Education leaders deepen their understanding of their innovation’s impact, ensuring evidence-based approaches that support systemic change. The leaders develop their Theories of Change and create their M&E frameworks for data collection, and analysis to inform decision-making and ensure impactful outcomes, which is crucial when fundraising, communicating the value of their innovations to stakeholders and potential supporters, advocating for the adoption of their innovations and pushing for systemic changes.

Fundraising and Communication: The education leaders are equipped with skills in storytelling and impact-driven income generation, enabling them to advocate effectively for sustainable innovations and secure the support needed to scale their impact for systemic change and ensure that learners thrive.

Community of Learning: Kickoff retreat + monthly virtual modules: workshops, guest speakers, site visits, readings, tools, and resources linked to practical innovation project, that equip Fellows with the mindsets and skills to:

Reimagine Education, learning with and from other Fellows about education innovations around the world

Design Innovations that improve education quality and learning outcomes—particularly considering the COVID-19 crisis

Coaching: Individualized support to strengthen skills and overcome growth areas (such as strategy, program design, goal setting and execution, impact measurement).

Curated connections: To sources of talent, capital, and opportunities for thought leadership. Fellows get an opportunity to pitch their innovations with the potential to receive a Catalytic Collaboration grant of up to $10,000 to implement or scale their innovation in collaboration with other members of the Metis Community.

“Metis helped me step into my power! The Fellowship curriculum and coaching tremendously helped me to define and launch my bold idea for girls empowerment. I piloted clubs for 400 teenagers in 3 informal settlements. My Metis experience and project were my booster within my organization. I was promoted as the Director of Gender and Children’s Empowerment, ensuring our thousands of students are safe and thriving.”

Lillian Wamuyu, Director, Gender & Child Empowerment, New Globe Education

“Without the METIS way curriculum, I would not have survived Covid-19 and Makini’s shift to e-learning. Metis taught me the skills to continuously iterate!”

Immaculate Musambi, Principal Makini School

What we look for in applicants

In your application and on Finalist day, our selection committee looks for:

Growth Mindset: Are you dedicated to personal and professional growth?

Leadership: Are you deeply committed and passionate about high quality education for all?

Collaboration: Are you willing to listen, learn, collaborate and support the work of others in the community?

Innovation: Do you have a powerful vision that Metis can support you to strengthen and accelerate? Does your innovation have the following characteristics?

Community engagement: Does your innovation capture the realities of the communities that it serves?

Sustainability: Does your innovation have organizational structures, specific implementation plans, and a financial sustainability strategy?

Pathway to scale: Does your innovation have a strategy for scaling?

Evidence-based: Does your innovation use data to make decisions and does it measure and report impact on the end users?

Thematic fit: Does your innovation fit under the thematic tracks for Cohort 7? That is, Gender + Employability, Gender + Climate Resilience, and Foundational Numeracy & Literacy? Learn more about Cohort 7 thematic tracks here.