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U40 cultural leadership fellowship
Description of the policy/measure
The “u40 cultural leadership programme, launched in january 2018, is a skill based incubator that is aimed at promoting cultural professional excellence. it was created in response to the difficulties many cultural organisations in zimbabwe face in recruiting and retraining visionary and innovative local university graduates, with the capacity to meet the current and future needs of zimbabwe’s cultural and creative industries. as a strategic intervention to gender-disparities in the governance for culture value chain, the program has to date, been targeted at women. selected graduates undertake an individually tailored and flexible programme of activities for one year, designed to meet their specific needs and circumstances. the fellowship methodology (problem-based, research-based, practice-based learning, action learning and peer learning) uses many lessons-learnt, in what has locally and globally emerged as creative sector challenges that require the building of expertise and competencies that will formulate innovative solutions that leverage on cultural assets and creative expressions. funded through nhimbe’s creative economy zimbabwe portal, the cultural leadership programme is divided into three strands: • work based opportunities supporting network placements, coaching and mentoring • intensive leadership development offering formal learning opportunities through mentorship; • policy design and advocacy developing competencies in policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation • entrepreneurial skills focusing on building the capacity of fellows to establish careers in creative entrepreneurship, within the ecosystem of cultural and creative industries
2005 Convention Monitoring Framework Goal(s)
Area(s) of Monitoring
Cultural Domain(s)
Transversal Priority(ies)
This measure was reported by civil societyResults achieved
To date, the fellowship has advanced the ascendance of fellowship beneficiaries to decision-making processes by developing leadership competencies through the following: • scholarship grants: one beneficiary granted a post-graduate diploma scholarship, by africalia, to develop competencies in international cultural cooperation, within the framework of developing cultural professional capacities and competencies that will foster cultural diversity and inter-regional exchanges • facilitating access to decision-making platforms: facilitating beneficiaries’ access to national, regional international platforms where they have influenced decision making processes through policy-oriented advocacy and presentations • creative entrepreneurship grants: grants have advanced the visibility of women as resilient creative entrepreneurs by funding creative business propositions that allow them to assert their position in emerging cultural and creative industry markets