Overview Of Programs
Rand African First Ladies Initiative & Fellowship Program
In September 2010, RAND launched the African First Ladies Fellowship series. This fellowship, co-hosted by African First Ladies, will focus on building the capacity of First Ladies and their advisors to run more efficient offices and programs. This will involve a minimum of two executive fellowship series annually, in Washington DC and throughout Africa, and includes mentoring, as well as monitoring and evaluation of impact and outcomes.
Rand Programs In The Media
Additional Program Tracks
Advocacy Series
The First Ladies Initiative hosts issue-specific workshops in conjunction with scheduled global meetings and policy forums, such as the African Union summit, MDG Review Summit, Women Deliver, GAIN, CARE International Women’s Day Conference, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and more.
Global Network & Toolkit Development
The First Ladies Initiative facilitates regional and global First Ladies action networks, helping first ladies lend their collective voices to their countries’ and regions’ most pressing challenges. This includes calls-to-action on specific policies and priorities.
Through this process we will work with First Ladies to establish standards and develop guidance on shared best practices, resulting in the development of a First Ladies’ Toolkit (handbook and accompanying curriculum).
Resource Matching
Our initiative fosters collaborations between global health and international development organizations and First Ladies at national and global levels. Since April 2009, RAND has coordinated efforts between First Ladies and the following entities: White Ribbon Alliance, Population Services International, CARE, United States Department of State, Johnson & Johnson, Global Alliance on Improved Nutrition, IPPF, Corporate Council on Africa, UNFPA, General Electric, Clinton Foundation, mWomen, Komen Global Initiative, International Medical Corps, NextAid, Global Health Council, TEDWomen, Women Deliver, World Health Organization, Massive Good and more.
In-Country Projects
Working with the office of the first lady, the First Ladies Initiative aims to find community-based, practical solutions to address significant health and education problems for developing nations. The project on which we are currently working is to build birthing shelters in Namibia and Sierra Leone. Please watch our two-minute video on the birthing shelter project in Namibia.