Motivation letter for a public health scholarship
Who wrote it
Tarig Osman is a pharmacist from Sudan who ran the medicine supply of a malaria programme for four years. He is applying for a DAAD scholarship for a master’s in international health.
The writer and every detail about them are fictional.
What went into the template
- Programme and university
- DAAD scholarship (development-related courses) for the Master of Science in International Health, Heidelberg University
- Your background
- BPharm, University of Gezira, 2018
2018 to 2021: community pharmacist, Wad Madani
2021 to 2025: supply officer for an NGO malaria programme, 12 health centres in Gedaref State
March 2022: one centre ran out of malaria treatment for 11 days in peak season while stock sat in the district store 40 km away
I introduced a one-page monthly consumption form and a shared spreadsheet, and trained 24 health-centre staff to use it, often by phone; stock-outs fell from 9 to 2 per quarter within a year
IELTS 7.0
I cannot fund a master’s abroad without a scholarship - Why this programme?
- Courses on health systems and on planning and evaluating programmes; a field placement; classmates who run health services in settings like mine
I can move medicines, but I cannot yet estimate need without recent data, evaluate an intervention without a baseline, or argue for a budget with evidence - Your plan after it
- Return to Sudan’s health sector and lead supply planning for a state or national programme; build a stock dashboard a health centre can use offline, on one phone
The writer’s facts, as typed into the template’s form. The example uses nothing else.
The example
Motivation letter: Scholarship, public health
Numbered notes in the margin explain each choice.
Dear Selection Committee,
Greeting
In March 2022, a health centre in Gedaref State ran out of malaria treatment for eleven days1 at the height of the season. The medicine was not missing from the country. It was sitting in a district store forty kilometres away, because nobody had reported that the centre was running low. I was the supply officer for the twelve health centres in that programme, so the gap was mine to close.
Opening: a failure he owned
Note 1: It opens with a failure in his own system, with a date, a duration and a distance. Owning a problem is a stronger start than describing a passion.
I designed a one-page monthly consumption form and a shared spreadsheet that showed each centre’s stock against its use, and I trained 24 health-centre staff to fill it in, often over the phone. Within a year, stock-outs of malaria treatment across the twelve centres fell from nine a quarter to two2. The tool was simple. The hard part was persuading busy nurses3 that reporting on time would come back to them as medicine on the shelf.
What he did, and the result
Note 2: A result he caused, measured over a year. The committee can see the size of his work without a single adjective.
Note 3: One sentence of insight about people shows the leadership a scholarship looks for, without using the word.
That work showed me both what I can do and where I stop. I can keep medicines moving through a district. I cannot yet answer the questions that decide whether a programme works4: how to estimate need when population figures are years old, how to evaluate an intervention that started without a baseline, and how to argue for a budget with evidence a ministry will accept. The Master of Science in International Health at Heidelberg University is designed for people at this point in their careers. Its courses on health systems and on planning and evaluating programmes speak directly to these gaps, the field placement would let me test methods in practice, and I would learn from classmates who run health services in settings much like mine.
Why this programme
Note 4: Three precise gaps make the programme a necessity. Each one is answered by a part of the course in the next sentences.
Before the programme I worked for three years as a community pharmacist in Wad Madani, after graduating in pharmacy from the University of Gezira in 2018. From 2021 to 2025 I was responsible for forecasting, ordering and distributing medicines for the malaria programme’s twelve centres. My IELTS score is 7.0.
Background
After the degree I will return to Sudan’s health sector. My aim is to lead supply planning for a state or national programme, and to build a stock dashboard simple enough for a health centre to use offline, on one phone. Without a scholarship, a master’s abroad is out of reach for me. With it, the skills would go back into the health system that trained me5.
Plan and the funder’s purpose
Note 5: Development scholarships fund an impact at home. The last line answers the funder’s own question: what will our money change?
Thank you for considering my application.
Closing
Yours sincerely,
Tarig Osman
Structure
How it is built
Each part in order, with its share of the words.
Checklist
Before you send
Go through your own draft line by line.
Before and after
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Lines like these turn up in many drafts by Arabic speakers. Each fix keeps the meaning and changes only the English.
I have a big experience in the pharmaceutical field.
For four years I ran the medicine supply of a malaria programme covering twelve health centres.
I am applying for this scholarship because I need financial support.
Without a scholarship, a master’s abroad is out of reach for me. With it, the skills would go back into the health system that trained me.
The stock-outs were decreased after my intervention.
Stock-outs fell from nine a quarter to two.
Questions people ask
How is a scholarship motivation letter different from one for admission?
An admission letter answers the university’s question: can you succeed in this programme? A scholarship letter must also answer the funder’s: why should this money go to you, and what will it change? Read the funder’s criteria, such as work experience or a plan for your home country, and answer each one with evidence.
Should I mention financial need?
If the scholarship asks about it or is based on need, yes, in one or two sentences tied to what the funding makes possible. The rest of the letter should show that you are a good investment, not a hardship case.
How long should a scholarship motivation letter be?
Use the funder’s limit, which is often one or two pages. Without one, aim for about a page. This letter has about 400 words, with most of the space spent on one problem and its result.
Every writer in this library is fictional, and so is every detail about them. Universities and companies appear only as places someone applies to; the professors, papers and facts mentioned around them are invented for teaching. Use the examples to learn the moves, never as text to copy: committees notice, and your own facts are stronger.