The Young Leaders Council was represented by Olayinka Joseph
Adebajo The Founder and Programmes Director at One Voice Initiative for
Women(Emancipation) and Children Empowerment (OVIWCE)
TYLC: Can we meet you ma? Please
introduce yourself what you do and what you’re most passionate about.
Victoria Ibiwoye: Hello everyone. Good evening
First
I must say that I'm very delighted that a group like this exist for learning. 😊
My
name is Victoria Ibiwoye and I am a youth educator and Peace advocate.
Host:
This
is quite emotional for as Miss Victoria is my mentor 😊
TYLC: Madam, Can you tell us what ESD
is and Your major Landmark achievements in ESD
Victoria Ibiwoye: As you must have seen from my
bio, I work with One African Child Foundation for Creative Learning; a
youth-led NGO with you goal to spread education for sustainable development in
low-income communities in Africa.
Education
for sustainable development is about empowering and motivating learners to
become active sustainable citizens who are capable of critical thinking and
able to participate in shaping a sustainable future.
ESD
also aims at developing competencies that empower individuals to reflect on
their own actions, taking into account their current and future social,
cultural, economic and environmental impacts from a local and global
perspective.
TYLC: To those who don’t know what
OAC is about....can you do us a brief introduction ma? Also we know OAC is
based in Nigeria, please tell us how you got OAC started in Kenya.
Victoria Ibiwoye: One African Child started 4
years ago while I was in law school and I was inspired for so many reasons. One
was my struggle with learning because I'm dyslexic. Dyslexia is a general term
for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words,
letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence.
Also,
because I live in a low-income community and I know what it feels like for many
exceptional kids not to be able to reach their full potentials because of
poverty and other socio-economic factors.
The
aim of One African Child is to help children in low-income communities discover
their true self-identity through creative learning workshops focused on
education for sustainable development and global citizenship.
In
2013, One African Child was founded in Lagos and gradually expanded to other
parts of Nigeria
Since
four years, there's been tremendous impact and steady growth of One African
Child at the community level and with this, we were able to expand to Kenya and
Benin-Republic.
Host: Well, i should use this
platform to let you know my NGO (One Voice Initiative for Women and Children)
has been learning a lot from OAC.... We
started our SDG-2 Advocacy inspired by your beautiful NGO
TYLC: What’s your perception about
basic education in Nigeria through the eyes of the students? i.e. what do you
think the disposition of students are to their basic education...
Victoria Ibiwoye: I believe that education is
what we offer to learners. Students can only produce what they've learnt
overtime. For every child, the level of basic education would vary depending on
access and quality of learning received.
For
some of the students I have worked with, education is about teaching rather
than learning. Education should not be one-way but rather a two-way learning
process that fosters partnership between learners and their teachers in
exchanging different perspectives and knowledge.
Ademiluyi Sunday (Audience)
Nigeria
is the headquarters of illiteracy in the world by UNESCO report 29
With
15 million children who can neither read nor write, how has OAC reacted to
this?
Victoria Ibiwoye: Majority of our work is centred
in low-income communities and we complement the work of the government in
ensuring equal access to education by organising after-school lessons for
public school children. Our approach to learning is learner-centered,
acrion-oriented and transformative. Our training, facilitated by our youth
educators, supports self-directed learning, participation and collaboration,
problem solving and critical thinking. We bring real-world situations into the
classroom and we inspire learners to BUILD ideas and projects that addresses
some of the challenges they are faced with.
TYLC: What do you think the
government has done as regards the advancement of education in Nigeria in the
last 6 years? What have they not done?
Victoria Ibiwoye: I think that the curriculum has
changed a bit and newer subjects such as Civic Education and Visual Arts have
been introduced.
However,
there's a wide gap in the delivery of education for sustainable development.
Education
should help us think and not tell us what to think. Education impact how we
think and act and raise sustainable change-makers. In promoting the SDGs, the
Nigerian government need to look more into ways that education can contribute
to a new vision for sustainable development.
Host: I must really comment your
activities and OAC's on Social media....Twitter is fun and exciting with
#OACMasterClass
TYLC: A bit of what the situation is
in Kenya as opposed to basic education in Nigeria. (Similarities and perceived
difference)
Also
in your relationship with educators and students outside Africa, what are the
differences in the perspective of students and the educators as regards
Education?
