Call for Mentors and Participants: Global Health Project Sprint

Applications are open for the Global Health Project Sprint, a free six-week mentored project programme run by EA South Africa, EA Nigeria and Health Progress Hub. We are looking for participants, and for experienced global health practitioners to mentor. Both close on Sunday 20 September.

The Sprint runs from 5 October to 15 November 2026, and is fully remote. Participants take on a scoped global health research, advocacy or scoping project, work on it in a small team with a mentor matched to the topic, and finish with a piece of work that, if it meets the bar, is published under their names on the organisers’ platforms. 

Read more here about the program and about mentoring.

Why we are running it

Two observations sit behind the design. 

The first is that a good deal of the most useful analytical work in global health is not being done, or remains unpublished. This includes answering questions like which cheap, proven medicines chronically stock out and where the supply chain breaks, how some governments have successfully raised domestic revenue for health systems , and what enabled successful health systems reforms in LMICs.

 The second is that people trying to move into high-impact global health work usually have limited access to opportunities to do concrete project work under experienced mentors. A finished, published piece of work addresses both, i.e. it is an open-access resource the field can use, and it is a cheap test of fit for the person who produced it. The Sprint is the natural next step after our Global Health Introductory Fellowship, but it is open to anyone and no prior fellowship or research experience is required.

For participants

• A choice of 14 pre-scoped projects across six themes (market shaping, regulatory delay, environmental health, health financing, community health workers, pilots that scaled). You can also propose your own project.
• Teams of two to six by default, or solo with a peer accountability partner. A weekly 45 to 60 minute mentor check-in, a midpoint review at week three, and assessment and feedback at the end.
• A certificate, a virtual showcase on 25 November, and exposure for work that reaches the bar. Around 5 to 15 hours a week. 

Apply as a participant. There is a final office hour with the organisers on Friday 18 September at 18:00 GMT+1 (19:00 SAST) via Luma.

For mentors

What the programme cannot supply on its own is the judgement that comes from having worked in the field, on decisions like which claim needs checking, when a scope is too wide, what a decision-maker actually needs from the output. We are looking for practitioners, researchers and professionals with real experience in some part of global health, matched by broad fit (health economics, policy, regulatory affairs, health systems, environmental health, data) rather than the exact topic. We provide a mentor guide, templates and support.

• One 45 to 60 minute check-in a week from 5 October to 15 November, a written midpoint review, a full-draft read and scoring final deliverables based on a provided rubric. The team owns the work, and the mentor’s role is guidance on scope and method, not proofreading.
• Roughly 21 to 25 hours in total for one team, and up to three teams. A modest stipend, plus public credit on the deliverable.

Apply to mentor. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, starting with a short screening call; matching is confirmed by 23 September.

What it is not

Not a job or placement, and no introduction is guaranteed. Not implementation with real populations; projects are research, advocacy and scoping. Deliverables are not guaranteed to be publicised and must meet a predetermined quality bar. Every finished deliverable is read by all three organisations and gets written feedback, but there’s no guarantee of use by relevant organisations. 

If you know someone who would enjoy mentoring, please pass this on; personal recommendations have been our best source of both mentors and strong applicants. Questions to [email protected].