Youth Ambassadors Programme
The systems we are building must make sense to the people who will live with them, and that means bringing young people into the work now, not as recipients of finished frameworks but as participants in how those frameworks are developed and how they reach communities across the continent.
Building Bridges Across Campuses and Communities
The REFA Youth Ambassadors Programme is a fellowship for young people across African universities who want to be part of rethinking how institutions are designed and how knowledge about institutional coherence reaches the communities and campuses where it matters most. Ambassadors serve as bridges between the REFA Hub and the spaces where the next generation of institutional thinking is taking shape.
This is not a passive affiliation or a certificate programme. Ambassadors engage substantively with REFA’s research and translation activities, contribute to community advocacy and campus engagement, and help ensure that the work we are doing is shaped by the perspectives of those who will inherit its outcomes. The programme is designed to build a network of young leaders who understand what institutional coherence means and who are equipped to carry that understanding into their own professional and civic lives.
Applications Opening Soon
The inaugural cohort of REFA Youth Ambassadors will be selected through a competitive application process opening in November 2026. Full details on eligibility, expectations, and the application process will be announced closer to launch.
What Ambassadors Do
Ambassadors contribute to REFA’s work across multiple dimensions, depending on their interests, their institutional context, and the opportunities available in their region. The core activities include the following.
Research Engagement
Contributing to REFA Network research activities, whether through data collection, community engagement, literature review, or participation in research convenings and workshops organised by the Hub.
Campus Advocacy
Organising conversations, reading groups, seminars, or events on their campuses that engage fellow students with questions of institutional design, indigenous knowledge systems, and the coherence agenda.
Community Connection
Serving as connectors between REFA and communities in their regions, helping to ensure that the knowledge communities hold informs the research we produce and the frameworks we develop.
Content and Communication
Contributing to REFA’s public-facing work through writing, storytelling, social media engagement, or other forms of communication that help make the agenda accessible to wider audiences.
Who Should Apply
The programme is designed for young people who are intellectually curious, committed to Africa’s institutional futures, and ready to contribute to a collaborative, long-term agenda. We are looking for the following.
University Students
Undergraduate or postgraduate students currently enrolled at universities across Nigeria and the broader African continent.
Recent Graduates
Young professionals within two years of completing their degree who remain connected to campus or community networks.
Community Advocates
Young people actively engaged in community work, civic engagement, or grassroots organising who want to connect that work with the broader institutional coherence agenda.
The inaugural cohort will focus on Nigerian universities across different geopolitical zones, with expansion to other African countries planned for subsequent cohorts.
What the Programme Offers
The Youth Ambassadors Programme is structured as a one-year fellowship with ongoing opportunities for continued engagement. Ambassadors receive the following.
A stipend to support your activities as an ambassador over the course of the fellowship year. Details to be announced.
Direct connection to REFA Network researchers, practitioners, and partner institutions working across the continent.
Workshops, convenings, and mentorship designed to build your capacity to engage with institutional design and policy translation.
The systems we build today will be inherited by the generation now entering universities and early careers. The Youth Ambassadors Programme exists to ensure that generation has a voice in how those systems are designed, and the tools to shape what comes next.
Register Your Interest
Applications for the inaugural cohort will open in November 2026. If you are interested in becoming a REFA Youth Ambassador, you can register your interest now to receive updates when applications open and to stay connected with REFA’s work in the meantime.
Stay in the Loop
Register your interest to receive updates on the Youth Ambassadors Programme, including application timelines, eligibility details, and opportunities to engage with REFA before the formal programme launches.
Register InterestWe are also open to hearing from university departments, student organisations, and youth networks interested in partnering with the programme.
Part of the REFA Project
The Youth Ambassadors Programme is one component of the REFA Project, the translation and implementation arm of the REFA Hub. Learn more about the Project’s work across research translation, policy implementation, and community partnership.