Female leadership, only solution to most of our problems in Nigeria —Taibat Hussain, UNICEF GenU Youth Board Member

26-year-old Taibat Hussain has been nominated into the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Youth Sounding Board as a member from Nigeria. In this interview by ENIOLA OYEMOLADE, the Kwara State indigene speaks on how she became a youth board member and what she would do differently.

You have been selected as a UNICEF Generation Unlimited Youth Board Member, how did this happen?

Earlier this year, I worked with restless Development UK (the only Nigerian on the team) on a project tagged “YouthAtHeart” (funded by Netherland Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to gather insights and proffer solutions to the challenges associated with education and work for young people because of COVID-19. Primrose-a member of Restless team shared the nomination opportunity with me, which I applied for. After an internal review of all CVs received for the opportunity, Restless sent me an email that they would like to go ahead and nominate me for the Steering Committee. Because Restless Development only nominates, and do not make the final decision, I had to go through another rigorous selection process by the Generation Unlimited team.  I was thrilled to finally receive my appointment letter to join the GenU Young People’s Action Team few days ago. Its been journey of over four months of different stages of screening and engagement.

 

How would you describe this recent feat? Did you see it coming?

You know the sayings that you need to prepare for opportunity. I have been preparing every day of my life for this opportunity. All the studies, past and current projects and research brought me to this point. For example, while working as a researcher with Restless Development UK, I conducted in depth research, analysed data to gather insights and proffer solutions to the challenges associated with education and work for young people because of COVID-19. It was a proud moment to see our recommendations and the principles document developed from the research endorsed by global decisions-makers during the YouthAtHeart forum in Netherland. My master thesis at SOAS University of London was around future of work, young people and employability. I believed this experience along with others catapults me to this feat. Its only God that knows what happens the next day but I was super prepared for a Global recognition and opportunities like this.

 

What is Generation Unlimited? What do they do?

Generation Unlimited (GenU) is a global multi-sector partnership to meet the urgent need for expanded education, training and employment opportunities for young people, aged 10 to 24, on an unprecedented scale. Currently, the initiative is the world’s leading public-private-youth partnership transforming crisis into opportunities for young people. For example, in response to the digital divide which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Generation Unlimited is working to connect every child and young person to the internet, and scale-up IT-enabled solutions to boost young people’s skills, improve teaching, and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of education systems.

 

You are a graduate student of development economics at SOAS University of London. Is there any way the knowledge from this will help you as a youth board member?

As a development economist, I have strong interest in trying to comprehend the cause-and-effect of inequalities, backed by empirical evidence, to improve the quality of life of people. Studying development economics at SOAS University of London has equipped me with the various theories and tools to understand development challenges and undertake economic analysis. I also gained the skills to proffer solutions. The graduate programme built me for this! I am bringing that experience on board to change the trend of things for better with UNICEF.

 

As a youth board member, what are the changes you would like to see there? What would you do differently?

The outgoing board member really tried to ensure that young people are at the heart of different Initiatives. I alongside my colleagues will be building on that success to democratise opportunities for young people and ensure young people get a seat at the table globally. As an advocate for the domestication, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), I will be pushing for #LocalisingInitiatives wherein young people from grassroots communities will also have access to resources and information like their counterpart in the city. I will also be pushing for sustainable youth policies in tandem with the new normal challenges across board. We will be leveraging on UNICEF country office to lobby government to act. I am super excited to lend my voice to issues of the number of out-of-school children, digital divide and gender inequality. I hope to be open to recommendations of young people in Nigeria and the whole of Africa as I resume this position officially.

 

What exactly would be your role as a board member?

My role is to act as a sounding board to the GenU Secretariat and governance structures on all components of GenU including strategic decision-making as well helping to inform and shape GenU’s key impact areas: learning and skilling, entrepreneurship and employment and youth as change makers. As members of the YPAT, I will be bringing the diverse perspectives of young people, especially the most marginalised, to the global GenU Secretariat and the Board, to help ensure that grassroots perspectives are actively influencing GenU’s direction and overall impact.

 

Do you think young people can actually proffer solutions to some of the challenges being faced worldwide? How so?

Young people represent 1.8 billion of the world’s population-the largest in the history of humankind. We cannot afford to lose out on the productive potentials of this demographic. Young people are the ones mostly affected by these issues-talk about unemployment, lack of access to education.  Young people are experts in their own experience, we have better understanding of how these challenges affect us and well-suited to proffer solutions to alleviate them. As such, we should be put at the heart of policy discussions and decisions-making on the  issues that affects us. Young people have the competence, capacity and character needed to creative solve global challenges.

 

You have over four years experience working in the non-profit and development sector. How has the experience being so far and what lessons have you learnt?

It has been pretty challenging combining running a non-profit without funding from donor agency with academics and work. With the full support of my husband, I have been able to avoid some mistakes that start-up non-profit founders do make.  The sector has opened my eyes and brain to selfless service to humanity while investing in human capacity development, myself inclusive. For example, our organisation was the first non-profit to start spelling bee in Kwara State and attracted the attention of popular TV stations. I have been given different awards as a result of my impact in the sector and spoken at different regional, national and international conference.

However, lack of mentorship unstructured board member and organisation policy document were some of the issues I had. Also, recruiting volunteers to work without pay was the toughest. But as time went by, I was selected for the Civic Leadership training by Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative. Being a fellow of the Barack Obama Young Africa Leadership Initiative (Regional Leadership Centre) also gave me an opportunity to learn, relearn and unlearn.

 

How would you describe yourself?

As a woman who believes so much in her country, fearless, unashamed and unapologetic to pursue her goals. I also believe that female leadership is the only solution to most of our problems in Nigeria. I am passionate about sharing knowledge and using data and technology to drive policies.

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