Frequently Asked Questions
What are the qualifications to become a STAR Fellow or Intern?
STAR Fellows are varied in their levels of experience, areas of expertise and backgrounds. Fellows can be early in their careers or seasoned technical experts, while Interns may be enrolled or recently graduated from a degree program. Each fellowship and internship will have specific qualifications including years of experience, skills and degree requirements.
What do Fellows and Interns do?
Each position is tailored to the needs of the host organization. Day-to-day, Fellows and Interns contribute to the work of their host organizations through capacity-building activities, such as strategic planning, program scale-up and design, strategic partnership management, and transferring specialized technical skills and knowledge. STAR participants are also expected to focus up to 10 percent of their time dedicated to learning activities to address their individual professional development goals.
Where do they work?
Host organizations may include, ministries of health, non-governmental and civil society organizations, academic institutions, USAID Washington and Missions. Positions can either be based in the U.S. or overseas.
What types of positions are available?
It depends. Fellowships and internships are generally full-time paid positions that are developed in collaboration with the host organization and are based on their needs. Most positions require specific technical skills or knowledge (ex: data analysis, monitoring and evaluation, program management etc.) and focus on a specific area of global health programming (ex: HIV, Maternal Child and Health, Tuberculosis, etc.). Recent fellowship opportunities have included:
What is the duration of positions?
Fellowships are two years; Internships range from three months to one year.
Qualifications and Eligibility
Do I need to be currently enrolled in a degree program to be eligible?
No, you do not have to be enrolled in a degree program to be eligible for fellowships. However, you can be concurrently enrolled in a degree program for the internship positions.
Do I have to be a U.S. citizen?
No, however, some positions based at USAID may require that candidates have U.S. citizenship/permanent residency due to security clearance requirements. Specific eligibility requirements will be noted in the position announcements.
Learning and Professional Development
What professional development benefits do Fellows and Interns receive?
STAR participants may receive an individual learning budget that supports individual participation in professional development activities such as conferences, workshops, courses, and coaching. Throughout their experience, each participant is guided by STAR’s Learning team. The Learning team will support participants to design an Individualized Learning Plan (ILP) that is cohesive, purposeful, and relevant to the participant’s job description and long-term career objectives. STAR’s Learning team also supports participants with access to journal articles and learning opportunities through facilitated learning events and capacity building activities
How much time do participants devote to learning?
Participants are expected to dedicate up to10% effort to learning activities, which equates to approximately four hours per week on average for full-time positions.
