Professional programme · 8 weeks · Live online

Innovation & Impact Program Management (IIPM)

Design it. Fund it. Run it. Track it. An 8-week online programme for the people who run accelerators, fellowships, youth employment schemes and grant-funded initiatives across Africa. Learn to design, fund, deliver and measure an impact programme, and leave with a complete programme blueprint.

A Global Analyst Academy programme, delivered in partnership with ScaleBurg.

Programme at a glance

₦350,000

Early bird ₦300,000 until Friday 6 November 2026, or two instalments of ₦175,000

Starts Tuesday 24 November 2026
8 teaching weeks online, about 6 to 8 hours a week
Live sessions on Tuesdays, 6pm to 8pm WAT
Applications close Wednesday 18 November 2026
Cohort limited to 35 participants
GAA Certificate in Innovation & Impact Program Management

Admission is by short application. Accepted applicants receive a private enrolment link.

Overview What you’ll learn Who it’s for Syllabus Capstone Calendar Faculty Fees Apply FAQ

Programme overview

Running an impact programme is a profession. Train for it.

Accelerators, fellowships, youth employment schemes and grant-funded initiatives are now a profession of their own across Africa. The people running them are expected to design a cohort, manage a donor budget, keep partners aligned and send a funder evidence that the work changed something. Most learned it on the job, one painful report at a time.

IIPM is built for them. Over 8 weeks you follow one programme from concept note to close-out: building its theory of change, costing it, selecting and supporting its participants, setting up its MEAL system, managing its partners and writing the report a funder actually wants to read. Every week ends with a working tool you can use on Monday.

You finish with a complete Programme Blueprint, defended in front of practitioners who have run programmes for foundations, development agencies, hubs and corporates.

Not another project management course

What we mean by program management

Most program management training assumes a programme is a group of related projects inside one company.

In innovation and impact work, a programme is paid for by someone else and judged by what happens to the people and ventures it serves. Its manager has to design it, win and manage the money, run the cohort and measure the results. That is the job IIPM trains you for.

What you will learn

Six capabilities funders and employers look for

Design programmes that hold up

Turn a problem into a theory of change, a logframe, a programme thesis and a participant journey that a funder can back.

Win and manage the money

Write concept notes, build budgets with cost per participant and indirect costs, and read grant agreements with care.

Run cohorts that deliver

Source and select participants fairly, design curriculum and mentoring, and run demo days and showcase events.

Measure what matters

Set up a practical MEAL system: indicators, baselines, lean data surveys, feedback loops and a cohort dashboard.

Manage partners and funders

Work with implementing partners, government agencies, sponsors and mentors, and meet donor reporting and compliance rules.

Adapt, close out and tell the story

Run learning reviews and small experiments, close a programme well and write impact reports that do not overclaim.

Who it is for

Built for the people who run the programmes

Hub and accelerator teams

Programme associates, officers and managers at innovation hubs, incubators, accelerators and entrepreneur support organisations.

Foundation and NGO staff

Program officers managing grants, implementing partners, and youth or enterprise initiatives.

Development project staff

Project and MEL officers on donor-funded entrepreneurship, skills and livelihoods projects moving into programme leadership.

Corporate and public teams

CSR, foundation-arm and corporate innovation staff, and government agencies running challenges or enterprise schemes.

You will get the most from IIPM with 2 to 8 years of experience, running or about to run a programme funded by someone else. No certification is needed to join.

weeks, about 6 to 8 hours a week

modules, one running case

working templates you keep

participants per cohort

Programme syllabus

Eight modules, one programme, start to finish

Each module is one week: recorded lessons and readings, a live case session on Tuesday evening and a deliverable due on Sunday. The case follows one fictional programme, Ebute Innovation Hub and the Rise Youth Enterprise Accelerator, from the first call with its funder to close-out. Open each module to see what it covers.

Module 1: The Impact Program Manager's Job (Week 1)

What a programme is in the innovation and impact world, and how it differs from a project. Who funds this work (foundations, DFIs, government, corporates and impact investors) and what each expects back. The programme lifecycle from concept note to close-out, and how to map the ecosystem around your programme.

Live: Tuesday 24 November, 6pm to 8pm WAT.

Pre-reads: GAA Reading 1.1: Programmes Are Not Projects, the Impact Program Manager’s Job; GAA Reading 1.2: Who Pays and Why, a Map of Funders in African Innovation and Impact Work; Case Part A: The Call from the Tamarind Foundation.

Deliverable: Ecosystem and stakeholder map. Due Sunday 29 November.

Faculty: Akin Akinsulire.

Module 2: Designing the Programme (Week 2)

Turning a problem into a programme that holds up. Problem and context analysis, theory of change, results frameworks and logframes, the programme thesis, the participant journey and the basics of human-centred design.

Live: Tuesday 1 December, 6pm to 8pm WAT.

Pre-reads: GAA Reading 2.1: From Problem to Theory of Change; GAA Reading 2.2: Logframes Funders Actually Read; Case Part B: Designing Rise.

Deliverable: Theory of change and logframe. Due Sunday 6 December.

Faculty: Akin Akinsulire.

Module 3: Winning and Structuring the Money (Week 3)

How programmes get funded and how the money is structured. Funding models, concept notes and proposals, programme budgets, cost per participant and indirect costs, grant agreements, sub-grants and consortia.

Live: Tuesday 8 December, 6pm to 8pm WAT.

Pre-reads: GAA Reading 3.1: Concept Notes That Get a Second Meeting; GAA Reading 3.2: Costing a Programme, from Line Items to Cost per Participant; Case Part C: The Budget Conversation.

Deliverable: Concept note and budget. Due Sunday 13 December.

Faculty: Akin Akinsulire, with Crystal Chigbu, Executive Director of Irede Foundation, on fundraising for social causes.

Module 4: Running Cohorts That Deliver (Week 4)

The craft of running a cohort. Sourcing and outreach, selection rubrics and due diligence, curriculum and mentor design, technical assistance, demo and showcase days, and the workplans, RACI charts and risk registers that keep delivery on track.

Live: Tuesday 15 December, 6pm to 8pm WAT.

Pre-reads: GAA Reading 4.1: Selection Is the Programme, Sourcing and Choosing a Cohort; GAA Reading 4.2: Support That Participants Actually Use; Case Part D: 1,200 Applications and 40 Places.

Deliverable: Selection rubric and delivery plan. Due Sunday 20 December.

Faculty: Gbenga Agoye.

Module 5: MEAL: Measuring What Matters (Week 5)

Monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning that a small team can actually run. Output, outcome and impact indicators, baselines and targets, data collection tools, lean data surveys, feedback mechanisms, cohort KPIs, and the difference between attribution and contribution.

Live: Tuesday 5 January, 6pm to 8pm WAT.

Pre-reads: GAA Reading 5.1: Indicators That Mean Something; GAA Reading 5.2: Lean Data for Busy Programme Teams; Case Part E: The Midline Numbers.

Deliverable: MEAL plan and indicator tracking table. Due Sunday 10 January.

Faculty: Akinwunmi Akowonjo.

Module 6: Partners, Government and Stakeholders (Week 6)

Managing the people a programme depends on. Partnership models and MOUs, managing implementing partners, working with government agencies, corporate sponsors and mentors, safeguarding and governance.

Live: Tuesday 12 January, 6pm to 8pm WAT.

Pre-reads: GAA Reading 6.1: Managing Implementing Partners; GAA Reading 6.2: Working with Government Agencies in Nigeria and Across Africa; Case Part F: The Partner in Kano.

Deliverable: Partner agreement outline and engagement plan. Due Sunday 17 January.

Faculty: Crystal Chigbu.

Module 7: Compliance, Reporting and Adapting (Week 7)

Keeping funders confident and the programme honest. Narrative and financial donor reports, compliance and audit readiness, issue and change management, learning reviews, and running small experiments to improve the programme mid-course.

Live: Tuesday 19 January, 6pm to 8pm WAT.

Pre-reads: GAA Reading 7.1: The Donor Report, What Funders Look For; GAA Reading 7.2: Adaptive Management, Learning Reviews and Small Experiments; Case Part G: The Quarterly Report.

Deliverable: Quarterly donor report. Due Sunday 24 January.

Faculty: Mariam Decoco.

Module 8: Scale, Sustainability and the Story (Week 8)

Closing well and setting up what comes next. Close-out and handover, sustainability and follow-on funding, revenue models for hubs and support organisations, impact reports and case studies, and presenting your programme to a funder panel. The recorded lessons open on Monday 18 January, so you can use them in your capstone.

Live: Capstone defences, Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 January, 6pm to 9pm WAT. You book one slot.

Pre-reads: GAA Reading 8.1: Closing Well, Close-Out, Handover and Follow-On Funding; GAA Reading 8.2: Telling the Impact Story Without Overclaiming; Case Part H: What Comes After Rise.

Deliverable: Capstone blueprint and panel defence. Capstone due Sunday 24 January.

Faculty: Akin Akinsulire and the faculty panel.

Capstone project

Your Programme Blueprint

Your certificate is earned through a capstone, not attendance. You build a complete blueprint for a real programme at your organisation, or for the running case if you cannot share your own.

Each weekly deliverable becomes one chapter, so most of the work is done by Week 7. In Week 8 you defend it for 15 minutes in front of two practitioners playing the funder.

Assessment: weekly deliverables 40%, capstone blueprint 40%, panel defence 20%. Pass mark 60%, with every weekly deliverable submitted. Scores of 80% or more earn the certificate with distinction.

What your blueprint includes

Ecosystem and stakeholder map
Theory of change and logframe
Concept note and budget
Selection rubric and delivery plan
MEAL plan and indicator tracking table
Partner and stakeholder engagement plan
A sample donor report
Sustainability and close-out plan

The experience

How you will learn

Live case sessions

Two hours every Tuesday evening, built around the running case and your own programmes. Every session is recorded.

One running case

An original, Africa-set case written by GAA follows one accelerator from its funder's first call to close-out.

Peer teams of five

You review each other's deliverables every week and leave with a network of people doing the same job.

Tools you keep

Twelve templates, from the theory of change canvas to the donor report, ready to use at work.

Templates included: Ecosystem and stakeholder map, Theory of change canvas, Logframe, Concept note, Programme budget model, Selection rubric, Workplan and RACI chart, Risk register, MEAL plan, Indicator tracking table, Partner agreement checklist, Donor report template.

November 2026 cohort

Week by week

Orientation opens on Saturday 21 November 2026. Live sessions run on Tuesdays, 6pm to 8pm WAT, with optional clinics on Mondays, 7pm to 8pm WAT. Modules 1 to 4 run before Christmas. We break from 21 December to 3 January, and Modules 5 to 8 run in January. Deliverables are due by 11:59pm WAT on the Sunday of each teaching week.

Week	Dates	Module	Live session	Due
Week 1	23 to 29 Nov 2026	Module 1: The Impact Program Manager’s Job	Tuesday 24 November	Sunday 29 November
Week 2	30 Nov to 6 Dec	Module 2: Designing the Programme	Tuesday 1 December	Sunday 6 December
Week 3	7 to 13 Dec	Module 3: Winning and Structuring the Money	Tuesday 8 December	Sunday 13 December
Week 4	14 to 20 Dec	Module 4: Running Cohorts That Deliver	Tuesday 15 December	Sunday 20 December
Break	21 Dec to 3 Jan	Holiday break	No session	Catch up and start your capstone
Week 5	4 to 10 Jan 2027	Module 5: MEAL: Measuring What Matters	Tuesday 5 January	Sunday 10 January
Week 6	11 to 17 Jan	Module 6: Partners, Government and Stakeholders	Tuesday 12 January	Sunday 17 January
Week 7	18 to 24 Jan	Module 7: Compliance, Reporting and Adapting	Tuesday 19 January	Donor report and capstone, Sunday 24 January
Week 8	18 to 26 Jan	Module 8: Scale, Sustainability and the Story	Capstone defences, Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 January	Certificates issued by Friday 29 January

Faculty

Led by Akin Akinsulire

Akin is the Founding Director of Global Analyst Academy and Founding Partner and CEO of ScaleBurg, a pan-African innovation-scaling venture. He is also Managing Partner at FifthGearPlus Consulting. He holds an MBA from Aston Business School and has completed executive programmes at Harvard Business School and the Wharton School.

He has designed and run entrepreneurship and innovation programmes that have supported more than 40,000 entrepreneurs and helped facilitate over $24 million in investment, across programmes in over 30 African countries, with 12 government partnerships along the way.

He leads Modules 1, 2, 3 and 8, including fundraising, and chairs the capstone panels. Four practitioner faculty lead the other modules. Meet them below.

akinakinsulire.com · LinkedIn

At a glance

Module faculty

Taught by people who do this work

Each module is led by a practitioner who runs this part of the job day to day.

Gbenga Agoye

Accelerator programmes · Module 4

Profile coming soon. Two or three sentences on Gbenga’s role, experience and the module they lead.

Crystal Chigbu

Executive Director, Irede Foundation · Modules 3 and 6

Crystal is the Executive Director of Irede Foundation. She leads Module 6 on partners, government and stakeholders, and joins Akin in Module 3 to bring the social-cause view of fundraising.

Akinwunmi Akowonjo

Monitoring, evaluation and learning · Module 5

Profile coming soon. Two or three sentences on Akinwunmi’s role, experience and the module they lead.

Mariam Decoco

Grants and compliance · Module 7

Profile coming soon. Two or three sentences on Mariam’s role, experience and the module they lead.

Fees and dates

November 2026 cohort

Start date	Apply by	Fee	Time
Tuesday 24 November 2026	Wednesday 18 November 2026	₦350,000 (early bird ₦300,000 until Friday 6 November 2026)	8 weeks, about 6 to 8 hours a week

Pay in full

₦350,000, paid on acceptance.

Early bird

₦300,000 when you apply and pay by Friday 6 November 2026.

Two instalments

₦175,000 on acceptance and ₦175,000 by Friday 18 December 2026.

Teams of three or more

10% off for three or more people from one organisation: ₦315,000 each. We can invoice your organisation.

Outside Nigeria? The fee for international participants is USD 450. The fee covers all live sessions and recordings, the running case and readings, the 12 templates, weekly feedback, the capstone panel and your certificate.

Admissions

How to join

STEP 1

Apply

Complete the short application below. It takes about five minutes.

STEP 2

Review

We check that IIPM fits where you are in your career, so every cohort is made of working practitioners.

STEP 3

Decision

You hear from us within three working days. Accepted applicants receive a private enrolment link.

STEP 4

Enrol

Secure your seat on the GAA Learning Portal with full payment or your first instalment.

Apply

Apply for the November cohort

Applications close on Wednesday 18 November 2026. Seats are limited to 35, and early bird pricing ends on Friday 6 November 2026, so applying early helps.

Sending a team? Each person applies individually. Name your colleagues in the last field and we will apply the team rate.

Questions? Email support@globalanalystacademy.com or book a conversation with the team.

Full name

Phone or WhatsApp

Country

Job title

Organisation

Type of organisation

Years of programme or project experience

Describe a programme you run or support (3 to 5 sentences)

What would make IIPM a success for you?

Preferred payment option

How did you hear about us?

Colleagues applying from your organisation (optional)

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is this the same as PMP or PMI's program management credential?

No. PMI treats a programme as a group of related projects inside one organisation. IIPM is about programmes that a third party funds and that are judged by what happens to the people and ventures they serve: accelerators, fellowships, grant-funded initiatives and youth employment schemes. If you want PMI certification, see our PMP programme.

Who should take IIPM?

Programme associates, officers and managers at innovation hubs, accelerators, foundations, NGOs, development projects, CSR teams and government agencies. Most participants have 2 to 8 years of experience and are running, or about to run, a programme funded by someone else.

Run programmes funders trust

Applications close on Wednesday 18 November 2026. The first live session is on Tuesday 24 November 2026.