iLEAD Fellowship

Dear Donor,

Our theme as an organization this year is ‘LEAPing beyond limitations’. What this means for us as an organization is that we are delighted to be LEAPing beyond the challenges of 2020 and looking to 2021 with so many possibilities. We are excited to see that schools have reopened, and our students and fellows have new aspirations.

First, we want to say thank you for all your donations in the past year and your continued support on this journey; the work we do in education with underserved students and youth. Second, our work in the last ten months has been altered due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we have continued to utilize digital innovations to keep our students and fellows in the iLEAD programme inspired as they continue to learn and impact their communities.

As you may remember, towards the end of 2020, we had a virtual graduation ceremony for some of our fellows in the programme and some were awarded for their outstanding contributions and dedication during the programme. Due to the pandemic, our fellows were unable to complete the programme cycle, and early in January 2020, we launched a programme extension, inducted a new set of youth peer educators who are passionate about community development to complete the cycle with the iLEAD students. In the last few weeks, these youth peer educators have been assigned to schools in the most marginalized neighbourhoods in Abuja, Nigeria, and also assigned to professional mentors to help them navigate their career as they serve their communities.

As you read this report, the iLEAD students with the support of the volunteers have commenced community change projects, contributing to the reality of the communities even in the face of the pandemic.

In the coming months, we will be glad to share the impact stories of the students and volunteers, and transformative agents in society.