The Regional Director for West Africa, Ford Foundation, Dr Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye is to deliver a lecture at the 4th edition annual lecture of Penpushing media scheduled to hold July 21, 2022 in Abeokuta, Ogun State Capital.
A statement by the Planning Committee headed by Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi and Hafsat Abiola-Costello, as Secretary said the theme of the lecture is ‘Social Media Regulation: Insecurity and Elections Accountability in Nigeria’
The statement added that, the committee is putting all necessary arrangements in place for a befitting and educative anniversary lecture, which will take place from 9.30am at the marquee events centre of Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.
The keynote speaker is a respected leader on the African continent with over 20 years in the social change sector who brings many years of extensive experience leading diverse international development organizations, and managing country programmes, donor projects and country strategies in West Africa and across Africa.
The lecturer as the Ford Foundation Regional Director, oversees the foundation’s local team, external relations and administrative operations in West Africa, and also leads on program strategy development and implementation in the region, with a focus on advancing democracy, human rights and social inclusion for all especially youth, women and people with disabilities.
Aniagolu-Okoye throughout her career has designed and implemented strategies at regional and global organizations on key social issues such as improving governance, reducing poverty, advancing transparency in the extractives sector, and furthering women and girl’s empowerment – all through engaging civil society as well as the public and private sectors.
The keynote speaker, before Ford Foundation, was most recently the Country Director of Technoserve, an international Non-Governmental Organisation(NGO) that provides business solutions to poverty with women at the heart of the work.
She was the Country Director for WaterAid in Nigeria where she provided grants to civil society organizations advocating for improved access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services and strengthening civil society networks, including one focused on journalists dedicated to telling more accurate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) stories.
The Ford Foundation boss before WaterAid, led Girl Effect, an initiative of the Nike Foundation focused on girls’ empowerment, and also served as Country Director for Oxfam/Nigeria, and at Oxfam, she led strategies on reducing inequalities through initiatives on tax and gender justice, gender-based violence and transparency in the extractives sector.
Earlier in her career Aniagolu-Okoye was Deputy Program Director of a European Union project focused on reforming public sector service delivery with more efficient management of public finances, budget reform and accountability in six Nigerian states.
The guest speaker prior to that, was the West Africa Director for ASHOKA Innovators for the Public, focusing on advancing social entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali, while she was also a lecturer at the University College Cork and University of Limerick both in the Republic of Ireland teaching Sociology of Development and Gender Studies.
Aniagolu-Okoye holds a Ph.D and Masters in Sociology specializing in Gender and Development from University College Cork in Ireland, and a B.Sc in Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and she started the first Women Studies Journal “In from the Shadows,” which focused on gender issues in Ireland.
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
