Skip links

Mamandla Fellowship

Embrace is an exercise in harnessing the game-changing strength of this community-in-practice to improve the social, economic, political contexts in which mothers mother. Founded in 2019, the Mamandla Fellowship is the central part of this social experiment. It is based in Embrace’s core belief that lasting positive change can and should be driven by the lived experiences of the individuals at whom change initiatives are directed. If we want to improve the lives and experiences of mothers in South Africa, we must allow these mothers to lead the charge. Mamandla provides an opportunity to harness the collective efforts of our work and passions for the good of all mothers, and to leverage the power of our diverse experiences through a network of relationships.

Dear Fellow Mother-Supporter,

Embrace is a national movement with a simple, powerful mission: to ensure every mother is supported from the start of their motherhood journey.

The Mamandla Fellowship is uniquely designed as an accessible opportunity for mother-supporters who wish to lead a pro-mother agenda for social change in South Africa. The Fellowship is a year-long journey that includes compulsory in-person engagements, on-line learning and ad-hoc community conversation amongst the fellows. Attendance and participation at all fellowship engagements is compulsory. The Fellowship is designed to build community and networking. It is not an individual learning journey and fellows commit to showing up for each other during their fellowship journey. Every effort will be made to support logistics for participation. There will be no monetary contribution required for Fellows.

Embrace sees this Fellowship as a deep investment into the growth of our movement. We entrust fellows with the platform and connections to act and further the work of the movement for mothers.

As the Embrace movement grows, we believe we need a capable body of change-makers who understand the value of an investment in motherhood and are willing to lead the efforts of the movement in their local community and nationally. As the issues we’re passionate about gain traction, we’re looking to grow our community of fellows with individuals who desire to be at the forefront of these important conversations.

The Mamandla Fellowship is an opportunity to:

  • deepen your passion for supporting mothers,
  • upskill yourself as a leader and advocate for motherhood issues,
  • build strategic links with other like-minded women, and form lifelong friendships while you do it.

We believe a Fellowship like ours offers an opportunity to come into a space that redefines who leaders are and refines what leadership is.

If you are:

  • Community-minded and outspoken and passionate about social justice issues, especially those that affect mothers
  • A leader, keen to further develop your leadership skills in the motherhood space
  • A good communicator and listener, keen to broaden your opportunities in public and media engagement and keen to learn from other mothers and mother-supporters.
  • A team player – understanding the value of good collaboration and mutual upliftment
  • A doer – action-oriented; you want to see passion translated into positive change, and be a part of the process of making it happen

Then Mamandla is for you