LAWA Fellowship -Leadership & Advocacy for Women in Africa

The Leadership & Advocacy for Women in Africa – LAWA Fellowship Program was founded in 1993 at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC, in order to train women’s human rights lawyers from Africa who are committed to returning home to their countries to advance the status of women and girls throughout their careers.

The entire LAWA Fellowship Program is approximately 14 months long – from July of the first year through late August of the following year. The LAWA Program starts in early July, when the Fellows attend the Georgetown Law Center’s Foundations of American Law and U.S. Legal English courses. From August through May, the LAWA Fellows earn a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree at Georgetown with an emphasis on international women’s human rights and complete a major graduate thesis. Fellows also participate in professional development seminars and networking events with recent U.S. law school graduates who are working in the field of women’s rights. After graduation, the LAWA Fellows have the option to complete an internship, but not every Fellow finds an appropriate internship placement or is selected by an organization to intern.

The Women’s Law & Public Policy Fellowship Program (WLPPFP), founded in 1983, recruits talented and committed US and international women’s rights attorneys and brings them to Washington, DC for a year. All fellows participate in bi-weekly seminars which include substantive leadership and professional training. During their time in Washington they also attend relevant Supreme Court and Congressional hearings and meet with Members of Congress, national and local women’s rights leaders, and public interest lawyers. The deep relationships the Fellows build with each other, alumnae of the Program, and local, national, and international leaders during
their Fellowship year provide a rich resource upon which to draw throughout their careers.

The LAWA Program helps defray the costs for candidates who would not otherwise be able to afford an LL.M. degree and additional professional development training. The LAWA Fellowship provides the tuition for the mandatory Foundations of American Law and Legal Education course held from mid-July to mid-August (a U.S. $5,000 benefit) and for the Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from the Georgetown University Law Center (a U.S. $74,340 benefit).

The 2023-2024 LAWA Application is available here: