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The Fellowship Program

Impact Canada’s centre of expertise, housed in the Government of Canada’s Privy Council Office, conceptualized and implemented the Fellowship program to attract external talent with specialized skills in four discrete disciplines – Behavioural Science, Impact Measurement, Innovative Finance, and Challenge Prizes – with the aim to increase capacity and upskill the existing workforce.

  • Impact Canada: The Fellowship Program (Transcript)

    The Impact Canada Fellowship program attracts external talent with specialized skills in four disciplines: Behavioural insights, Impact Measurement, Innovative finance, and Challenge Prizes.

    Unlike traditional government processes, we run entire campaigns within only 3 months. Our fastest one was in just 42 days!

    We’re focused on identifying the right people with the right skills and pairing them with organizations advancing key government priorities.

    The Fellowship program benefits both the successful candidates and our partners. On one hand, candidates join a growing network of fellows and apply their skills to exciting projects. On the other, our partners gain valuable in-house expertise. This helps build public sector capacity to deliver the best policies and programs for Canadians.

    Interested in hosting a Fellow? Don’t miss out on placement opportunities!

    Want to become a Fellow? Go to Impact.canada.ca/fellowship.

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Rigorous recruitment campaigns run in 90 days

Day 1

Recruitment campaign launch

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  • 01 Application

    Applicants submit their responses to a tailored questionnaire designed to assess technical skills.

  • 02 Written exam

    Successful applicants complete a written exam designed to assess their ability to apply their technical skills.

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  • 03 Interview

    Successful applicants are invited to an interview to further asses their technical skills, with a focus on their personal suitability (soft skills), to help identify the right fit for the Fellowship program.

  • 04 References and security

    Successful applicants advance to references and the security verification process is undertaken.

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  • 05 Pre-qualification

    Applicants having successfully advanced through steps 01-04 are eligible for placement upon issuance of their security clearance.

Day 90

Completion of recruitment process

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Organizations win.

Organizations leveraging the Impact Canada Fellowship program have benefited from the unique and specialized skillsets of individuals with experience in rigorous program design and evaluation and in building capacity in organizations. Fellows remain Privy Council Office employees throughout their placements, ensuring a valuable connection to Impact Canada and central agencies.

Host a Fellow

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Fellows win.

Subject matter experts hired under the Fellowship program benefit from a connection to Impact Canada and central agencies, as well as to a cohort of other program subject matter experts tackling complex policy issues across multiple organizations.

Unique to the Fellowship program, subject matter experts receive practical project management and leadership from their host organization, and continued leadership, mentoring, and coaching from Impact Canada’s centre of expertise.

This approach provides an opportunity to build cross-sectoral and interdepartmental partnerships, and share leading edge practices.

Apply to the Fellowship program