Bukola Shonibare, Executive Director of Invictus Africa, has been announced as a 2021 Ford Global Fellow, Ford Foundation’s flagship global fellowship programe with a $50 million investment to support emerging leaders around the world.

As one of two fellows from Nigeria and four from West Africa, Bukky Shonibare is among the 48 global fellows joining the inaugural (2020) cohort of 24 to be supported by Ford Foundation as they actively work to combat injustice and inequalities in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic in their different countries, while nurturing and learning from each other to design and reimagine solutions to inequality.

Evidently, the rate of sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria spiked because of COVID-19, exacerbating existing gender inequalities; coupled with successive large-scale abductions of schoolchildren, denying boys and girls their right to education, a reality that has peeled back years of advancement in girls’ education, with potentially serious consequences if unaddressed.

Accepting the fellowship, Shonibare remarked: “We must promote wide and in-depth understanding of gender issues, while collaborating with relevant state and non-state actors on effective strategies. All girls in Nigeria should have the right to education and opportunity with safety and freedom.”

Invictus Africa promotes human rights and addresses inequalities affecting vulnerable and disadvantaged people through evidence-based advocacies, legal reviews, and capacity development.

With support from OSIWA, Invictus Africa is implementing the “Prevention, Accountability, Support (PAS)” Project, designed to prevent Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), demand accountability from duty bearers, and provide support to SGBV survivors. Invictus Africa recently developed and launched “Orange Pages,” a national directory of SGBV Responders and Service Providers in Nigeria.

With a $50-million investment over the next 10 years, the Ford Global Fellowship aims to connect and support the next generation of leaders from around the world who are advancing innovative solutions to end inequality.

The programme focuses on shared learning across issue areas, building and strengthening connections across borders, and developing a supportive, interconnected cohort from across a wide variety of sectors, with the hope that the fellowship serves as a catalyst for the fellows to accelerate the impact of their work, individually and collectively.