Applications for the East Africa Emerging Public Interest Advocates Program (EAEPIAP) 2022 are now open. The EAEPIAP for young legal professionals is a flagship fellowship programme by the Center for Strategic Litigation that empowers young advocates through rigorous skills-based training and practical experience in public interest litigation.

The goal of the programme is to build the next generation of public interest advocates in East Africa who share a commitment to and passion for promoting democratic values. This comes from the realization that there is a limited number of active public interest litigants as most lawyers prefer careers in private and other fields of law.

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The fellowship provides up to 30 outstanding young advocates from Kenya, Tanzania (mainland), Tanzania (Zanzibar), Uganda, South Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda with an opportunity to learn from public interest litigation and advocacy gurus, academics, and practitioners, both in class and in court for six (6) months under the following carefully designed curriculum.

Programme Components

• Residential Training: The training programme is inaugurated by a one (1) month intensive skill-based training programme that combines presentations, mock trials, public lectures, court visits, and legal aid service.
• Practicum​: After completion of the residential programme, the fellows spend 4.5 months in the field where they are closely guided by experienced mentors to put in practice what they learnt in the residential programme to build and implement a project case.​
• Closing Seminars: The last one to two weeks of the programme are spent with the fellows engaging in a series of seminars, presenting their cases, their progress, the lessons learnt and the way forward.​

Cost of Emerging Public Interest Advocates

• Economy travel to and from your country of residence by an approved route for you only. CSL will not purchase any travel tickets for a fellow unless they can show proof of all valid travel documents (e.g valid passports).
• CSL will not be liable for any loss or expenses (including airfares) for travel delays incurred by the fellow as a result of inaccurate information provided by the fellow, delays in submitting the appropriate forms to the relevant authorities or refusals of host or transit country authorities to grant a visa to the fellow.

Eligibility for Emerging Public Interest Advocates

You must:

• Be a citizen of the East African Community Member states and expected to reside in the region during the term of the fellowship.
• Be able to start the programme by 13 February, 2023 and commit throughout all phases of the programme.
• By February 2023, be a graduate lawyer admitted to the bar with between one and five years of relevant work experience.
• Demonstrate passion for human rights, rule of law and a commitment to social justice.
• Be passionate about working with the community in pursuit of justice.
• Be well versed with the human rights and constitutional context in respective countries and the region as a whole.
• Be prepared to work and pursue a PIL casework during the programme.
• Be prepared to work with teams and under a mentor to guide your professional growth.
• Have provided all supporting documentation in the required format.

Application of Emerging Public Interest Advocates

The selection committee chooses applicants they wish to interview in person. During this interview, applicants are asked questions about their experience, proposed casework, clarity of vision and future impact and their commitment and readiness to the fellowship.

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Lastly, It is important to visit the official website link found below to access the application form.

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Similarly, Visit oyaop.com and oyaschool.com for more scholarship opportunities.