Full Program Details
Every government ministry sits on a mountain of data: payroll records, procurement files, staff surveys, case logs. Most of it is never used to answer simple questions like why a permit takes six months or which offices lose the most staff. The World Bank's Government Analytics Fellowship is built for the civil servants who want to change that inside their own institutions.
Applications for the 2027 fellowship are now open. It is aimed at mid-level managers and senior analysts in central government who have a real project in mind and the backing of their organization to deliver it.
Fellows develop their own government analytics project with support from World Bank and University of Oxford experts, and in-person fellows from ODA-eligible countries have their hotel, travel and subsistence in Washington, D.C. covered by the World Bank.
Details at a glance:
- Host: The World Bank, building on its Government Analytics Handbook
- Tracks: online-only, immersive in-person, and regional hubs
- In-person component: about two weeks in Washington, D.C., in March 2027
- Who it targets: mid-level managers and senior analysts in central government organizations
- Nominations: up to two fellows per organization
- Deadline: 16 November 2026
Choose Your Track
- Online-only: a self-paced virtual fellowship for officials who need to balance it with their day job.
- Immersive in-person: a small, competitive cohort committed to an intensive six-month programme, including about two weeks in Washington, D.C., working with World Bank staff, academics and other government practitioners.
- Regional hub: more local fellowships organized around regional hubs.
What the Fellowship Offers
- Training on how to turn government data into insights that improve administration and decision-making
- Direct learning from the experts behind the Government Analytics Handbook
- Support from World Bank and University of Oxford experts to build and strengthen your project
- A global network of public servants, data experts and academics
- Dedicated mentoring from a World Bank expert for a selected group of fellows. Every in-person fellow gets a mentor.
- For in-person fellows from ODA-eligible countries, which include Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and most of Africa: hotel, travel and subsistence for the Washington, D.C. course covered by the World Bank
If your application is not successful, you can still use the World Bank's online Government Analytics course.
Who Can Apply
- You must be nominated by your organization
- You must work in a central government organization, including government agencies
- You must hold a mid-level management or senior analyst position (or equivalent), with the authority and institutional support to develop a government analytics project
- You need prior university-level coursework in statistics or related quantitative methods
- You must be proficient in English
- You must present a government analytics project with clear institutional relevance and potential for implementation
In-person applicants must also be free to travel to Washington, D.C., for about two weeks in March 2027, and must complete the virtual course and submit their project before the in-person training.
Students, faculty members and staff of private companies or non-profits are not eligible, according to the World Bank's FAQ.
How to Apply
- Talk to your manager early. You need an endorsement letter from your organization that nominates you, confirms your position and backs your proposed project.
- Prepare a CV of no more than three pages that highlights your relevant experience.
- Write a 150-word summary of the government analytics project you plan to carry out in your organization.
- Save all three documents in English as PDF files.
- Submit them through the application form linked on the official fellowship page before 16 November 2026.
What Makes a Strong Project
The World Bank is clear that this fellowship is about the analytics of administration, not policy. A project on how a tax office processes returns fits better than one on tax policy itself. It also wants evidence that the data you need already exists in administrative records, or can realistically be collected through surveys during the fellowship.
GizPulse Verdict
Who this is for: Data-minded civil servants in federal or national ministries and agencies, including those in Nigeria and across Africa, who already have a problem in their office they want to fix with evidence and a boss willing to sign off.
Who should pause: Students, lecturers, NGO staff, private sector workers and state or local government staff who do not work in a central government organization. The rules exclude you this round.
One tip to stand out: Spend most of your effort on the 150-word project summary. Name the exact administrative dataset you will use, the decision it will improve and who in your organization will act on the result.
Read the full rules and apply on the official World Bank Government Analytics Fellowship page.
