WanaData EPD-DDI Fellowship Cohort II: Advancing the Visibility of Gender Data

Fourteen women. Ten countries. One shared mission: to advance the work of making gender data visible and democracy stronger.

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WanaData EPD-DDI Fellows Cohort II

On February 24, 2026, the WanaData EPD-DDI Fellowship welcomed its second cohort. Fourteen data scientists and journalists from across the Sahel, West Africa, and the Horn of Africa officially began their six-month journey and we couldn’t be prouder to introduce them.

The first cohort, which concluded in November 2025, provided proof that gender data gaps could be bridged and issues that affect women could be elevated beyond sentimental rhetoric. More than the published stories or polished datasets, it offered a template for sustainably connecting the data dots across the African landscape and spotlighting critical issues that impact women which are too often obscured. Resourcing a cohort of female changemakers across data science and journalism, with the necessary tools and support are a proven way of bridging the gender data content gaps. Cohort 1 of the EPD-DDI Fellowship has proven this and Cohort II picks up that baton; same mission, deeper dives, and stronger outcomes. Selected from WanaData community of data journalists, data scientists and storytellers through a competitive selection process, the fellows are uniquely positioned to advance the work started by the Cohort 1 changemakers.

Reprising the Mission

Across the Sahel, West Africa, and the Horn of Africa, gender data is largely analogue, fragmented, or simply absent from public discourse and decision-making. Systematic exclusion of women’s voices from civic life, the erosion of fundamental human rights through enduring cultural practices and policy and intervention mismatch have combined with low political will to widen inequality gaps. Closing that gap takes more than awareness. It takes infrastructure, and resourcing the right people with the right information and data, to build it. That is precisely what this fellowship is designed to do, find the important data gaps that target areas of core concerns in each country and elevate the narrative around these issues.

Led by Code for Africa (CfA) and executed by its WanaData Community, in partnership with the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), and supported by AfricTivistes, CFI Media Development, the World Scout Bureau Africa Regional Office, the Kofi Annan Foundation, and NIMD, the programme places resources directly in the hands of women already doing civic work in their communities on issues ranging from cybersecurity and e-democracy to freedom of expression, SDG16, and human rights.

How Cohort II works

The fellowship runs from February to August 2026, structured around peer learning, expert mentorship, and real, publishable output. Each fellow will produce at least one data-driven article per month, and a minimum of six stories over the course of the cycle.

The work has already begun. Stories from March and April 2026 are live, covering topics including women’s rights in Ethiopia, domestic violence in Burkina Faso, cyberviolence against women in Benin, and the invisibility of street girls in Togo. These are not just stories. They are data made human and a preview of what the next six months will bring.