It is expected that approximately 50-60 grants will be offered for sub-Saharan Africa in 2005/2006. Since this is a regional program, there is no fixed number of grants for any individual constituent country. However, the program does aim for as even of a distribution of grants as possible among all of the participating countries that receive quality applications.
 
Most African nations are willing to accept proposals in various disciplines. However, many give preference to projects that are topical and in some way address critical needs in that country. For example, a Creative Writing application for a country such as Malawi would probably not be particularly compelling, especially if it had to compete with other applications in fields such as Public Health or Economic Development. (Please note that this is not meant to discourage applicants in the creative/performing arts, as in the past 5-6 years grants have been offered for arts candidates to over a dozen different countries throughout the region.)
 
Most countries in the region are also willing to accept candidates at all degree levels. Even though some countries may have a stated preference for either graduating seniors or graduate-level students in their country summaries, the quality of the project, the candidate’s maturity, and their ability to carry it out successfully are usually more important than their degree level alone. Among the countries to which graduating seniors cannot apply are: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Gabon, Lesotho, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. Currently, US Student Fulbright programs are not in operation in the following countries: Burundi, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Somalia and Sudan.
 
The standard duration of grants for sub-Saharan Africa is 10 months. And unless one plans on enrolling in a college or university, applicants should know that they have a fairly broad and flexible time frame for beginning a grant. While most grantees (worldwide) head overseas to start their projects in the fall, grants for Africa may be started in late summer 2005; the latest that an 2005/2006 grant could begin is the end of March 2006.
 
It is worth adding that while the Fulbright program generally gives preference to candidates with little to no prior international experience, the unique challenges of conducting research in Africa means that some prior experience in this world area may actually be an asset for applicants to this region. Previous experience on the continent can also facilitate securing an institutional affiliation in the host country– which is solely the responsibility of all applicants/grantees to sub-Saharan Africa.    
 
South Africa— The Most Popular Destination in the Region
South Africa is by far the most competitive country in sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 100 candidates have applied for it each of the past four years, and only 7-8 grants have been offered each of those years. Its popularity among applicants can be attributed to several
factors, including: its relatively high standard of living, the high quality of its higher educational system and research centers, the fact that English is sufficient for many projects, and the country’s solid track record of awarding grants to projects in a wide variety of fields and disciplines– academic as well as artistic. Given the high ratio of applications received to grants awarded, candidates interested in South Africa might want to consider some of its less competitive neighbors instead, such as Botswana, Swaziland, and Namibia.
 
Candidates interested in South Africa should bear in mind that the South African Fulbright Commission will not consider applications that do not include these letters of invitation/affiliation from the candidate’s prospective host institutions. Candidates should therefore make every effort to begin communicating with their South African contacts as early as possible to assure that they will have these letters in time to be included with their applications. And while this should probably go without saying (especially given that candidates are now required to complete and submit the online application), the Commission will also not accept any application that is handwritten.
 
(Even though South Africa accounts for approximately one-fourth of all the applications for sub-Saharan Africa, a considerable number of candidates also apply to Ghana, Tanzania, and Kenya. Senegal is the most popular non-Anglophone country.)