The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Middle East and North Africa (J-PAL MENA) at the American University in Cairo (AUC) has announced the selection of the first cohort of its MENA Scholars Fellowship. Supported by Community Jameel and the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, the new fellowship seeks to build a community of regional researchers with technical and hands-on experience in designing and conducting randomised evaluations of poverty reduction programmes. This year, the fellowship provides six scholars from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Morocco with a two-year stipend to support their time participating in fellowship programme activities.