As UN partners Nigeria photo organisation to pursue SDGs…

For some young Nigerians, when they started to tell stories with photographs through a project tagged PhotoWaka Africa, it was just a means of following their passion, they never expected that it would go global. But early this week, they hit gold as the social enterprise that is focused on youth empowerment, creativity, job creation and creating a sustainable value chain in the photography space got a partnership with the United Nations Nigeria.

The partnership between UN and PhotoWaka Africa was to collaborate towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), having found the organisation’s efforts towards using photography for social good and taking actions towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) laudable.

During the strategy meeting with the United Nations Nigeria, at the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Lagos, Dr. Oluseyi Soremekun, the National Information Officer, commended the foresight of the group led by a young documentary photographer Eti-Inyene Akpan.

The partnership seeks to explore how more can be achieved using photography as a tool to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Speaking on the partnership, Eti-Inyene said, “We are glad to enter into partnership with the United Nations Nigeria because the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is something we all should hold close and focus on. Photography has the power to go beyond borders and this makes it an ideal medium to not just connect people from all over the world, but to also create more awareness and possible solutions around the SDGs. Intentionally using photography as a tool for social change can inspire positive actions towards the Sustainable Development Goals.”

“The year 2020 marks a Decade of Action towards the realisation of these goals and as Africa’s largest photography community, we are set to do much more with this partnership with the United Nations Nigeria. “As a community of visual storytellers and through this partnership with the United Nations Nigeria, we are committed to reinvigorating the narratives and global partnerships imperative to sustainable development. We recognize the need at this juncture, to give fresh momentum to our cooperative pursuit of sustainable development and commit to partnering with other stakeholders in addressing the implementation gaps we see,” he said.

The vision of PhotoWaka Africa is to develop a professionally inclined, engaging, and highly creative community of visual storytellers in Africa, with the bold mission of using photography as a tool for social change and to tell the African story.

One of her objectives is to enlighten photographers about the global Sustainable Development Goals and show them how they can inspire innovation towards the attainment of these goals through storytelling.