The 2026 application window is now open through 1st March 2026. The new deadline is open only to applicants from Senegal and Burkina Faso only.” Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions.
The 2025 application window is now closed. Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions
If you have already started an application, click here to access your application.
WomenLift Health, in partnership with the Women in Leadership Advancement Network (WILAN), is launching a 12-month Midwifery Leadership Journey to strengthen the leadership capacity and networks of mid- to senior-career women advancing midwifery and maternal and newborn health (MNH) across Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and Burkina Faso.
The Journey will convene leaders from clinical care, education, regulation, policy, research, and innovation to connect, lead, and drive change for respectful, high-quality care for mothers and newborns. Midwifery women leaders will enhance leadership competencies, gain from coaching, peer learning, and opportunities to champion high-impact MNH innovations and become change agents for better health care for mothers and newborns.
In this fully funded, 12-month Midwifery Leadership Journey, we provide mid- to senior-career women advancing midwifery and maternal and newborn health with a safe space to explore their authentic leadership through vulnerability and reflection; an inclusive, cross-country network that fosters a strong sense of belonging; and tools and strategies to strengthen their voice, presence, and influence—all while being supported by a powerful group of peers, advisors, and coaches.
The Midwifery Journey will be a transformational learning and development experience that brings together women leaders from clinical care, education, regulation, policy, research, and innovation who are working to improve respectful, high-quality care for mothers and newborns. It is aimed at creating the mindset shift needed to address the complex, interlinked challenges facing midwifery and MNH systems today. This Journey is aimed at creating the mindset shift needed to solve complex challenges that we face in midwifery and maternal and newborn health today.
This Journey will impart contextualized tools and frameworks to address the individual, organizational, and societal barriers that midwifery leaders face—from gaining influence in decision-making spaces to driving change within institutions, and health systems.
Participants engage in two in-person experiential learning residencies (Immersion and Lift-Off), in addition to virtual learning touchpoints, virtual group mentoring, virtual one-on-one coaching sessions, and importantly, a self-directed Midwifery leadership project.
Upon completion of the Leadership Journey, participants will become “Global Fellows”, who will be part of a lifelong network of allies at local, regional, and global levels who continue to support each other and new cohorts with their time, talent, and treasure, and to advocate for women’s leadership.
Designed for professional women leaders in health, the Journey has been thoughtfully crafted for participants to be fully present & engaged. We recognize the importance of work-life harmony.
We believe the type of women leaders who would benefit most from this program are those who value diversity, equity, and inclusion; see the value of bringing diverse lived experiences to policy and practice; and are eager to not only expand their leadership presence and influence but pay it forward to others in their organization and community.
The Journey is specifically tailored to develop skills that strengthen four key leadership styles: Authentic, Inclusive, Strategic, and Impactful.
The Midwifery Leadership Project is an opportunity for you to design and lead an effort that stretches you and taps into your expertise, network, passion, and creativity to create health impact.
Participants enter the Journey with a project idea and develop a Theory of Change, stakeholder analysis, and implementation plan with the guidance of their mentor, coach, and global health experts within our team and network. The implementation phase of the project begins in the latter half of the Journey. Finally at the Lift-Off event, each cohort member presents a summary of their project’s development and early outcomes.
Implementation of the project does not have to be fully complete by the end of the Journey and should continue beyond it.
There are only three guidelines for the Midwifery Health Leadership Project:
Leadership Projects fit into one of five themes:
Your Midwifery Leadership Project could accomplish one or more of the following, but is not limited to:
Within the application, you will be asked to describe your Midwifery Leadership Project idea, which is a critical element of your application. Implementation of your project does not have to be fully complete by the end of the Journey and can absolutely continue beyond it.
WomenLift Health does not provide funding for your Leadership Project. The support we provide is mainly in the form of connecting you with highly experienced mentors, coaches, and experts within our team and network. Your peers can also be an excellent resource for enhancing your project. We also encourage you to align your project with your work stream and gain buy-in from institutional leaders.
Learning Touchpoints are facilitated, virtual and in-person group sessions. Cohort members explore leadership frameworks, research & tools in highly interactive learning touchpoints and workshop-style sessions focused on dynamic practice. The touchpoints focus on personal & professional growth, relevant topics and priorities for health leadership, as well as their Leadership Projects. These sessions allow the cohort to share with and learn from each other.
Effective women leaders are championed by a network of strong supports, including that of mentors. We identify senior-level leaders from different backgrounds, health sectors, and disciplines to serve as mentors to the cohort. Mentoring groups, comprised of several cohort members and one mentor, are grouped based on complementary backgrounds and professional trajectory. Cohort members will be able to rely on their mentor as a technical and career resource during the Journey.
Having a personal leadership coach is critical to navigate challenge and change, put new mindsets into practice, and support on the path toward amplified power and influence.
Cohort members are paired with an executive coach who works one-on-one with them to build on their strengths and address areas for growth. Leadership style assessments, including a “360-degree evaluation,” will inform these conversations and enhance each participant’s understanding of their own leadership skills. With this gift of feedback and support from their coach, participants can decide which leadership competencies to focus on, paving the road for them to be a more powerful and effective leader.
The combination of mentors and coaches is powerful as women prepare for the next level of their career, providing both professional connections and transformational leadership guidance.
The ‘Leadership Immersion’ is a 3-day experiential convening that takes place a few months into the Journey. Through dynamic discussions and hands-on exercises, cohort members enhance their skills, apply them to real-world examples, and reflect on lessons learned. A series of powerful conversations will complement the instruction, featuring eminent figures in global health who have led transformational change.
The 2-day ‘Leadership Lift-Off’ event at the end of the Journey celebrates the cohort’s growth as they ‘lift off’ to a new phase of their leadership. Cohort members will reflect on their leadership evolution through the course of the year and present their leadership projects to their peers as well as other global health audiences.
JourneyPLUS sessions are optional events that offer informal, but focused spaces for the cohort members to build community with one another and explore special topics. The sessions often feature guest speakers such as senior global experts and Leadership Journey alumnae.
The 2026 Midwifery Journey will take place from May 2026- April 2027. Before applying, please check the dates and timing of the sessions to ensure that you would be able to attend all touchpoints. All touchpoints are mandatory to attend while the JourneyPLUS events are optional. The in-person residences involving travel include the 4-day Immersion (27-30 July, 2026) and the 2-day Lift-Off (4-5 May, 2027).
You are eligible for consideration if you meet all of the following criteria:
Access our Application FAQ’s here. If you have any questions about the application or process, please contact [email protected]
If accepted, you will be required to attend each virtual and in-person learning residency* as detailed in the 2026 Calendar and to complete the deliverables associated with the Health Leadership Project. The JourneyPLUS sessions are optional to attend.
The time commitment for the required Leadership Journey activities (all virtual touchpoints and inter-session activities) ranges from 8 to 10 hours each month, except for the months of the in-person residencies. This estimate does not include the time required for the design, planning, and implementation phases of your Leadership Project, so please consider that in your decision to participate in the program.
There is no cost to participate if you are selected. All program costs, including travel and lodging, are covered.
Please ensure you have access to a computer and the Internet in order to attend the virtual touchpoints. Proficiency in English is expected as all sessions will be conducted in English.
You will also be asked to complete a “360-rater evaluation” and other leadership style assessments, which will inform your understanding of your leadership strengths and growth areas. The 360-rater evaluation will involve soliciting feedback from your boss, peers, direct reports, and others.
While the following are not technical requirements, our hope is that you will bring your drive, passion, and commitment to the program, engage actively with your peers, mentors, and coaches, and take full advantage of the resources provided. As our approach involves human-centered design, we will ask you to evaluate your experience and contribute ideas for how to enhance the Leadership Journey for future cohorts. One of the most important takeaways of this Journey are the relationships you form during this year. As many of our alumnae would say, “Behind every successful woman is an amazing group chat.”
Please include a letter of recommendation from your supervisor. If unable to obtain a letter of recommendation from your direct supervisor, you may submit a letter written by a senior leader at your current organization or a leader in the global health community who has experience working with you.
The letter of recommendation may speak to:
In order for your application to be considered complete, you must upload and submit your letter of recommendation as part of your application by the deadline.
This program is run by WomenLift Health, in partnership with the Women In Leadership Advancement Network (WILAN). This program brings the considerable resources of the New Venture Fund (NVF), a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. Our sponsor, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has provided the funds to enable this movement. Our Leadership Journey curriculum design partner and touchpoint facilitator is the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL).
We’ve noticed an increase in the use of AI tools in recent applications. Your application responses should be specific, contextualized, rooted in your work or interests, and include clear, realistic goals. If your submission includes vague ideas and reads the same as multiple other submissions this might result in a poor rating and lower the probability of your selection in a highly competitive process. We live in a world shaped by AI, and we welcome thoughtful, transparent use of these tools. But your application should showcase your own thinking, experience, and goals, not what a chatbot can generate.
As you consider applying for the Leadership Journey, please note the following expectations regarding attendance. These guidelines ensure that every participant can fully benefit from the experience and contribute meaningfully to their cohort:
Attendance Policy: In designing this Leadership Journey, we took great care to be mindful of the time commitment asked of you, while not compromising key content that is the core of the Journey. What makes Learning Touchpoints enriching is that they are highly interactive and driven by small-group discussions with your peers. We expect you to manage your schedule to be present for every aspect of the leadership journey including the in-person immersion and Lift-Off as well as for the full duration of all touchpoints – learning, mentoring, and coaching.
Your full participation so important not only for your own growth and transformation. but impacts the other women in to maintain a cohesive cohort dynamic, and for WomenLift Health’s long-term viability, especially related to funding and MEL.
If you doubt you can make this commitment we suggest you don’t apply and leave this highly valuable spot for a woman who can show up fully. If you miss any touchpoint we expect to be told in advance, and if you miss two touchpoints you will be seriously considered for removal from our program.
Applications must be submitted by March 1st, 2026 by 11:59pm WAT. If you have already started an application, click here to access your application.
If your question is still not addressed, you can contact us by clicking the button below.
Watch inspiring testimonials and Leadership Journey reflections from some of our alumnae members.
