[Updated 9 January 2018.  New entries are marked with an asterisk.]

While there are a decent range of scholarships available for African students doing MAs and PhDs, the professional development opportunities for African academics appear more limited.    I’ve put down what I could find, but I’m sure there are more – please send any recommendations my way!   They’re listed by funding type and by country or region.

I include the link to the current version of the fellowship or grant offered when I found it, so some of the links may now be out of date.  I don’t plan to update all the links every year, so if you find an outdated link, just search for the current information on the program.

African Post-Docs

• The Inter-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme supports visiting researchers at a range of African universities
• The African Science Partnership for Intervention Research Excellence (ASPIRE) offers a variety of post-doc opportunities around Africa
• The Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program offers fellowships for  diaspora academics to return to teach in Africa
• The African Peacebuilding Network has residential post-doc positions in Africa and the US
• CODESRIA also offers post-docs (not clear if they’re residential)
• The World Academy of Sciences offers post-docs at South African universities
• The Colin Murray grant for postdoctoral research in South Africa
• The National Research Foundation of South Africa offers post-docs for researchers from low-income countries other than SA
• The East Africa Social Science Translation Collaborative has a frequently-updated list of research and job opportunities across Africa and the US

European Post-Docs

• The Commonwealth Rutherford Fellowships support post-doctoral research by students who are citizens of a Commonwealth country *
• The Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships support PhD and post-doctoral study
• The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships offer research support for early career academics from around the world, primarily for research in the EU
  
• The WZB Berlin Social Science Center offers a Global Fellowship Programme which allows scholars from low income countries to spend 4 – 6 months in Berlin
• The German Academic Exchange Service has fellowships for PhD studies and post-docs
• Volkswagen Stiftung offers humanities post-docs to African academics who would like to study in Germany
• The Global Challenges Fellowship at Central European University supports scholars from low income countries studying pressing public policy issues
• The Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin and the Central European University in Budapest offer an eight-month fellowship for recent MA or PhD graduates from Nigeria and South Africa
• The University of Pavia has a short-term visiting fellow programme for scholars from low income countries
• The Centre of African Studies at Cambridge is looking for visiting research fellows
• The Oxford Global Leaders Fellowship Programme offers two-year residential fellowships for people from non-OECD countries to study global governance
• The Newton International Fellowships Scheme supports postgraduate study by international researchers in the UK
• The Leventis Research Co-operation Programme at SOAS offers a three-month post-doc to Nigerian scholars
• Durham University offers a one-term residential post-doc for scholars focused on Sudan through the Sir William Luce Fund

Other Post-Docs

• The Australia Awards provides fellowships for short-term professional education in Australia
• The JNCASR-CICS Fellowship Programme for scientific research at Indian universities
• East African Social Science Translation Collaborative fellowships at UC Berkeley cover one semester’s residence and research support at CEGA
• The Center for Global Development offers year-long IDRC fellowships in Washington, DC for researchers from low income countries (via Marla Spivack)
• The World Bank has a one-year fellowship for researchers focused on child development
• The World Academy of Sciences offers post-docs for researchers from low income countries who’d like to study in Brazil, India, Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan and Thailand
• The Wellcome Trust provides a variety of fellowships for early and mid-career researchers in public health and tropical medicine from low income countries
• Scholars4Dev lists post-docs around the world
• The WorldFish Centre and IDRC have a really large (if now slightly outdated) list of scholarships, fellowships and post-docs (via Jon Harle, who also has his own great list of scholarships)
• DocLinks lists European post-docs for African researchers in a variety of fields (via Jon Harle)

Research Funding

• The International Network for Government Science Advice offers research grants to scholars from low and middle-income countries *
• The Next Einstein Initiative offers a fellowship for female scientists at African institutions doing work on climate change *
• The Independent Social Science Research Foundation offers a variety of grants
• The European Research Council offers starting grants to early-career scientists of any nationality
• The Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund offers academic placements and research funding to scholars who are living in countries affected by civil war
• The International Growth Centre has regular calls for proposals on economic development
• The Mitsubishi Corporation Fund for Europe and Africa offers grants for research on environmental issues and poverty alleviation
• Grand Challenges Africa offers innovation seed grants to African scholars doing work related to the SDGs
• The Africa Science Leadership Programme at the University of Pretoria supports early- to mid-career researchers in all disciplines including natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, arts and the humanities
• The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowships support women around the world
• The GIGA Institute of Africa Affairs offer seed funding for PhD students and early-career researchers
• The West Africa Research Association offers doctoral research fellowships to West African scholars
• The Global Development Awards recognize excellence in development research
• USAID’s Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research provides research funding for scientists in low income countries
• The Matasa Fellows Network provides young African scholars with busaries to produce synthesis papers and policy briefs on development-related topics
• The Association of African Universities offers small research grants to post-graduate students and lecturers at AAU-affiliated universities
• The SSRC’s African Peacebuilding Network also provides individual research grants and collaborative working group grants for researchers in Africa
• The Public Affairs Research Institute in South Africa offers funding for short research projects by MA and PhD students
• The African Union Scientific Award Programme offers large grants to top African scientists
• The World Academy of Sciences provides research grants for scientists from low income countries
• Instrumental Access donates high quality scientific equipment to universities in low income countries

Travel, Conference, and Visiting Scholar Funding

• African women in science should apply for the Kwame Nkrumah Regional Scientific Awards for Women *
• The American Political Science Association’s Research Development Group is offering travel funding for early-career African scholars to attend their annual meeting *
• The African Academy of Sciences is looking for early-career affiliates
• CODESRIA’s African Diaspora Support to African Universities program brings diaspora academics back to the continent as visiting professors
• The Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford offers travel busaries for African academics who have had a paper accepted to their annual conference
• 3ie is offering busaries for nationals of sub-Saharan African countries to attend the African Impact Evaluation conference
• African scholars are eligible for the African Studies Association’s Presidential Fellows program, which covers the cost of attendance at the annual ASA conference in the US
• The Elsevier Foundation funds short exchange programs for faculty members who are focused on sustainability and live in a low income country
• The United Nations University in Helsinki offers three-month residential internships for current PhD students
• The University of Michigan African Presidential Scholars program offers six-month residential fellowships to African professors
• PLOS offers US$500 travel grants for conference presentations by early career science researchers
• African Women in Agricultural Research and Development offers mentoring, travel grants, and short courses on leadership to female scientists
• The German Academic Exchange Service also offers funding for travel, research, and visiting scholar positions
• AuthorAID provides small grants for travel, workshops, or online courses for academics from low income countries
• The Emerging Nations Science Foundation offers travel and conference grants
• The UK Collaborative on Development Sciences lists a number of calls for proposals

Training

• St Francis Xavier University in Canada runs a Global Change Leaders training program to help women from low income countries build leadership skills
• The Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme offers leadership skills training to young people from across Africa
• The Peace and Security Fellowship for African Women is run by the Africa Leadership Centre
• The UN Fellowship Programme for People of African Descent offers training in human rights
• The British Institute in Eastern Africa runs a summer school in research methods
• The African Studies Review Pipeline for Emerging African Scholars program offers a weeklong workshop on the publication process
• The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences – Women in Innovation (WiIN) program offers a developmental leadership seminar for 15 women from across Africa
• The African Institutions Initiative lists training courses throughout Africa in public health and infectious disease
• Participants in the American Political Science Association’s Africa Workshops have their expenses covered
• The LSE-UCT July School offers bursaries for African nationals
• The Demographic & Health Surveys fellowship program offers training in the use of DHS surveys to university faculty from Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria and Zambia
• The Next Einstein Forum offers fellowships and mentoring to young African scientists
• The African Social Research Initiative at the University of Michigan offers summer research training to African PhD students or academics from Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, South Africa, and Uganda
• The African Studies Association of the UK offers writing workshops where early-career African academics can work on a paper with the editor of a journal
• The Partnership for African Social and Governance Research offers an intensive training course in research methods for African academics (also via Jon Harle)
• SOAS runs a residential school on governance for development in Africa, with all costs covered for accepted applicants
• Thomas Gale scholarships for students from the US and Kenya who would like to attend the SOAS Academic Summer School
• CODESRIA has just launched a College of Mentors, which connects PhD students at African universities to faculty members in Africa and the US for mentorship *
• TechWomen is a USAID program which offers training and mentorship to female leaders in STEM fields
• AuthorAID also connects academics from different countries who are looking for mentoring or assistance with specific aspects of the research and publication processes
• Global Colleagues is an initiative from Academics Stand Against Poverty which connects junior scholars from low income countries with senior colleagues around the world
• The Moremi Initiative offers a yearlong training program for African women from 18 – 25
• WOMID is a new initiative which connects women doing PhDs in development-related fields with other women currently working in development
• The World Economic Forum offers a unique three-year professional developent fellowship with academic modules, mentoring and work experience
• Residents of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe are eligible for the Eisenhower Fellowship, which offers two months of leadership training in the US for mid-career development professionals