TAKEMI PROGRAM IN INTERNATIONAL HEALTH

The Takemi Program in International Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, with the Support of the Ford Foundation, Seeks Applications for 2015-2016 Fellows from West Africa

Two Takemi Fellows annually will be supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation to contribute to leadership development and build capacity for sexual and reproductive health policy in Africa. The focal countries include Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia; strong candidates from French-speaking West African countries can apply if they have strong English language skills.

Applicants should propose a project that relates to youth development, sexuality, reproductive health and rights, and includes a broader approach that places these issues within the overall developmental aspirations of youth. The proposal should include analysis of a critical policy problem related to youth sexuality, with the goal of developing a policy brief to identify specific actions that could be implemented upon return home.

The Takemi Program in International Health is an interdisciplinary research program that focuses on the problems of mobilizing, allocating, and maintaining limited resources to improve health. To address these issues, the program brings together at Harvard each year a small group of Takemi Fellows, mid-career professionals from around the world, with particular emphasis on participants from developing countries. The program was established in 1983 and is named after Dr. Taro Takemi, the distinguished physician- scientist who served for more than 25 years as the president of the Japan Medical Association. To date, 251 Fellows from 53 countries have been selected to participate in the Takemi Program.

The Takemi Program provides its participants with an opportunity to focus fully on their research projects, to build collaborative relationships with Faculty and researchers at Harvard, and to develop their skills and capacity as leaders and policymakers in their home countries. Ford Foundation-supported Fellows will be provided with a limited budget to cover living expenses, health insurance, travel expenses, and research and training costs.

The Takemi Program in International Health seeks mid-career professionals from West African countries, who work on youth development and sexuality, to participate in the Takemi Fellowship, which expands leadership capacity of individuals who are working on health in their home countries.

For additional information on the Takemi Program, please see the webpage:

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/takemi/

Instructions on how to submit an application are provided on the next page.

To Submit an Application to the Takemi Program

Qualifications: Applicants should have completed a graduate degree, have significant work and research experience, and have demonstrated potential leadership capacity in their home countries. They are expected to show strong promise and appropriate preparation (including facility in English) to enable them to benefit from a period at Harvard University. Further, they are expected to have made, or intend to make, a commitment to a career in health for which participation in the Takemi Program will be of significant value. Applications may come from any relevant discipline or profession (e.g., medicine, law, public health, economics, management, and social sciences).

Required Application Materials include:

             Application information sheet

             Curriculum vitae

             Publications list

             Short sample of something you have published in English

             Three letters of reference (Recommendation letters should also be sent directly by the referee to the Takemi Program by email – alevin@hsph.harvard.edu).

             Proposal of research and writing to be undertaken during the Fellowship- The proposal should not exceed five typewritten pages and should include a clear statement of objectives, significance or relevance, data sources, and methodology. The proposal should discuss how the Fellowship at Harvard will contribute to strengthening the capabilities of the applicant’s country. Please note that data should be collected and ready for analysis before arriving to the Program.

             Cover letter- Please also include a brief but specific cover letter stating what you plan to accomplish during the Fellowship (and confirming that your data will have been collected and will be ready for analysis when you arrive for the Fellowship).

             Session preference- Please indicate whether you are applying for the January-December 2015 or the August 2015- June 2016 session.

Deadlines:

Applications and proposals for the 2015 Calendar Year (January - December 2015) must be received by October 1, 2014.

Applications and proposals for the 2015-16 Academic Year (August 2015 - June 2016) must be received by March 1, 2015.

Applicants will be notified of the Program’s decision about two months after the deadline.

Please send complete applications by email to: alevin@hsph.harvard.edu

The standard application format follows this page. You can also download the application forms Takemi Program in one of the following formats:

                 Application in Word Format

                 Application in PDF Format