Since 2005 Taiwo AKINLAMI and Taiwo AKINLAMI Academy have partnered with UNICEF in the following areas:
a. Consultancy: Serving as consultants, facilitator, resource person, content provider, and researcher for UNICEF and its programs.
b. Counterpart Training: Our Principal, Taiwo Akinlami has also been trained extensively by UNICEF in Communication for Development and to disseminate some of its programs, particularly as it relates to the Child’s Rights Act, 2003.
c. Program Buy-in and Adoption: All of our programs under our Securing A Friendly and Protective Environment for Children® Interventions have been disseminated at UNICEF-organized Capacity Building Programs to UNICEF audiences of diverse interest covering: parents, guardians, teachers, lecturers, secondary school pupils, youth groups, higher institution undergraduates, professional bodies, pressure groups and religious and social organizations, print and electronic media, corporate sponsors and partners, Nigerian law makers and top government functionaries, under the watchful observations and approval of UNICEF’s Child Protection, Communication, Health/HIV/AIDS and Education Specialists.
d. Programs Participation: Former Education Specialist of UNICEF, Mrs. Justina Onifade attended as observer/participants the 2-day Child’s Right/Protection Awareness Program for schools, which objectives is to enlighten School Owners on the relevance of the Child’s Rights Act, 2003 to the day-to-day successful management of schools, where she commented on our Evaluation Form as follows: ‘very useful for my program development and for self-development of children issues. The program is very good especially for teachers and school owners.’
e. Validation: Some of our subjects under our Securing A Friendly and Protective Environment for Children® Interventions were in 2010 reduced to four (4) handbooks covering the four (4) thematic areas of Children’s Rights. Here is the written evaluation of Mrs. Caroline Fola Akosile in 2010 when she served as Communication for Development Specialist, UNICEF, ‘Educative, inspiring, and a must-read by policy makers, opinion moulders and parents to make all children attain their fullest potentials by obligating their rights to development, protection and participation.’
f. Judge and Validator: Invited as a Subject Matter Expert in the area of Child Protection and Family Strengthening to join other leading experts to judge and validate for public use the report on Understanding the Drivers of Violence affecting Children in Nigeria, funded by USAID, European Union (EU), UN Women and UNICEF and cited as ‘The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (FMWASD), the University of Edinburgh (UoE), Viable Knowledge Masters (VKM) and the United Nations Children’s Fund Nigeria (UNICEF Nigeria); the Drivers of Violence Affecting Children in Nigeria: Systematic Review, Interventions Mapping and Secondary Data Analysis, Abuja: FMWASD and UNICEF, 2018.’
g. Consultancy Research and Facilitation: Child and Family Welfare System Mapping (2012), jointly undertaken by UNICEF, Hope Worldwide, USAID and the Lagos State Government (2012).
h. Child Protection State Research Consultant: Engaged by UNICEF and UNFPA to lead statewide research on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Situation Assessment Situation Assessment/Analysis (including Knowledge, Attitude & Practice on Social Norms around FGM/C and baseline prevalence of this practice Ekiti State, Nigeria (2014 to 2017) and wrote a comprehensive report on the finding of the research.
i. Technical Reviewer of National Policy and Implementation Guidelines on Violence Free Schools for Children in Nigeria: UNICEF and the Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria engaged us to provide technical review to the National Policy and Implementation Guidelines on Violence Free Schools for Children in Nigeria. The policy and guidelines are national documents to be used by all the private and public schools in Nigeria (September 2019).
a. Program Facilitation/Coordination/Validated Facilitator of the Connecting Classroom British Council School Leadership Program (2013 to 2022)
b. Lead Consultant/Content Developer/Trainer for the British Council/Premier Skills Project, 2014/2015: worked with the British Council on the Premier Skills Project executed in conjunction with the UK-based Premier League and Lagos Football League Association with the following major tasks accomplished:
- Development of 12 Modules of Child’s Rights/Child Protection Empowerment Training Manual to be disseminated for 12 weeks for one hour, thirty minutes weekly (including developing session plans and materials), broadly based around girl’s empowerment, in football, in Nigeria, from a Child Right/Child Protection perspective, with each week being a different thematic area (but an overall integrated package) (2014)
- To take decisions on and develop a table of contents on the topics to be taught, but could include issues such as identity/confidence, inclusions, disability, specifically identified rights (e.g., education), child protection / keeping children safe, etc. (2014)
- Development of 12 modules of the Instruction Manual for Train the Trainer for coaches, based on the 12 modules of the Child’s Rights/Child Protection Empowerment Training Manual (2014)
- Delivering (training/facilitation) a 2-day Train the Trainer program for coaches from the 6(six) educational districts in Lagos State, based on the 12 modules of the Child’s Rights/Child Protection Empowerment Training Manual, focusing on the thematic contents of the Training Manual and sharing fundamental and contemporary methodologies for the effective dissemination of same to the children/participants (2014 & 2015)
c. Program Facilitation/Coordination/Validated Facilitator of the Child Protection component of the Core Skills and Competences Program (2016 to Date), handling the following projects:
- Monitoring and Evaluation for Premier Skills School Clubs in Lagos and Kano: developing tools for the Child Protection component of the M & E of the Premier Skills Schools Club, administering same, writing and submitting a report to the British Council (2019)
- British Council/Premier Skill Child Protection training for Coaches: provided local content and co-facilitated Child Protection training for Coaches of the Premier Skills Schools Clubs (2016)
- Fast Forward Program 2016: Consultant/Trainer to the British Council, to provide Child Protection Content on The Fast Forward Project funded by the MacArthur Foundation, a pilot research action project which has been designed to test out a model for teaching employability skills and providing work-based learning opportunities to secondary school students to better prepare them for work as the 21st-century skills that Nigeria needs for its future (2016-Date).
- Facilitated British Council’s First Ever Child Protection Awareness Event for School Counselors in Nigeria (March 24, 2016): ‘Thank you again for all of your hard work in facilitating our 1st ever Child Protection awareness event for school counselors; IT WAS INDEED A SUCCESS; thanks to your participation and IMPRESSIVE FACILITATION SKILLS! COMPLEX AND SENSITIVE CHILD PROTECTION MATERIALS were put forward in a PRACTICAL way that ENABLED PEOPLE to THINK CRITICALLY about their OWN RESPONSIBILITIES TO SAFEGUARD CHILDREN.’ Andrea Watkins, The British Council Interim Regional Child Protection Manager for the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) & Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (2016).
a. Contents Development: Development of 3 Modules curriculum for a Train the Trainer Training Program on Child-Friendly/Child Protection Sensitive Alternative Disciplinary Measures for the Public-School Teachers and members/leadership School Based Management Committee (SBMC) in helping the implementation of the Lagos State policy against Corporal Punishment in Public Schools (2013-Date).
b. Delivery (Training/Facilitation) of the 3 Modules curriculum for a Train the Trainer Training Program on Child-Friendly/Child Protection Sensitive Alternative Disciplinary Measures for the Public-School Teachers and members/leadership School Based Management Committee (SBMC) in helping the implementation of the Lagos State policy against Corporal Punishment in Public Schools(2013-Date).
c. Curriculum Development and Training concern Child Protection Component of the Goodman Family Strengthening Project for SOS Children’s Village, Nigeria: engaged to develop curriculum and delivering same to diverse audiences including parents, teachers, children, members of Child Protection Committee and all, other stakeholders in the Isolo, Ilasamaja and Ajao Estate areas of Lagos, covering Securing A Friendly and Protective Environment™ for Children, Positive Child Discipline, Case Management and other areas of concerns. (2018-2019)
Showcase of our project, Securing A Friendly and Protective Environment for Children® and Family Strengthening at the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Annual Child Safety Summit 2017
This hardly happens in our field, but we have the rare blessing of having our work showcased both at national and international conferences addressing the subject matter of Child Safeguarding and Protection or related matters.
Showcase of our project, Securing A Friendly and Protective Environment for Children® and Family Strengthening at the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Annual Child Safety Summit 2017, jointly organized by Facebook and Google:
The conference held and our project was showcased and presented by Marc Van Der Ham, the program coordinator to the participants, who include politicians like Minister Denis Naughton, then Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, practitioners, Googlers, Facebooks from Europe, Middle East and Africa and observers from around the world to a rousing ovation of all.
Thereafter, our principal, Mr. Akinlami was invited to make a short presentation on the project.
An attestation from Mrs. Titi Akinsanmi, Global Team Lead: Assistant & DSPA Policy Team, Trust & Safety for Google states in part:
Mr. Taiwo Akinlami’s project, known as Securing A Friendly and Protective Environment for Children® and Family Strengthening was exhibited/showcased at the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Child Safety Summit 2017 in Dublin, hosted by Google and Facebook for the unique impact on both online and offline Child and Family safety across Africa. Mr. Akinlami also worked closely with our Child Safety Partners in Sub-Saharan Africa – from co designing projects, to implementing and supporting as a speaker.
It is part of the tradition of the summit to showcase and celebrate outstanding projects from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which are in accordance with global standard and practice to inspire others in the field of Child Safeguarding and protection, particularly as it relates to online safety. We found Mr. Akinlami’s project worthy of such a showcase and recognition.
I can confirm that as part of the showcase, he made a presentation to the participants and contributors, which included academics, NGOs, politicians, Facebookers and Googlers to share the spirit, vision, research, strategies, implementation drive and impact of his project in Africa and other parts of the world.
Sameer Hinduja, professor of criminology and criminal justice at Florida Atlantic University, recognized is recognized internationally for his groundbreaking work about cyberbullying and safe social media use, concerns that have paralleled the exponential growth in online communication by young people, who we met at the summit testifies as follows:
I met Mr. Taiwo Akinlami at a Google and Facebook-organized summit in Dublin, Republic of Ireland 2017, focused on the protection of children online and offline. His work and organization were exhibited and recognized by the organizers as leading the way in Nigeria and in Africa.
As a fresh observation of the unique and extraordinary nature of Mr. Akinlami’s contribution, upon returning to the US from Ireland and studying his outstanding and well-researched presentation, which accompanied the showcase of his Project, Securing A Friendly and Protective Environment for Children™ at the Google and Facebook-organized Europe, Middle East and Africa(EMEA) Child Safety Summit, I wrote to him on May 9, 2017, as follows: ‘I applaud what you are doing and I agree with your perspective on African children. It is probably going to be hard to change such ensconced mentalities – just like in my home country of India, it’s very hard to change belief patterns because they are embedded in culture and in religion. BUT – someone must try. Someone will make progress. It is time. So, our efforts are never wasted – not even a bit.’
An eyewitness account of the events at the summit was published on the widely read medium platform of over 100 million readers as shown on the information from their website (www.medium.com) and the eyewitness account reads in part:
This brings me to the motivational speech by barrister Taiwo Akinlami, a total child development expert who advocates for securing a friendly and protective environment for children. Bar Akinlami shared his heartbreaking childhood experience and used it to illustrate why child protection should be given top priority in our societies. In his words “Children are not created to raise themselves”. His speech reflected the fact that he had a bad upbringing because of the kind of society in which he grew up in. He didn’t get adequate love and attention as a kid and that led to a whole lot of issues in his adult life.
a. Technical Child Safeguarding and Protection Consultant: To change the approach to Child Protection and Safeguarding in Lagos State, in accordance with Global Standards, from reactive to proactive, DSVA led the action to promulgate the Lagos Statewide Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, which was ratified by an Executive Order, signed into law by the then Governor of the State on December 16, 2016. It is the first of its kind in Nigeria, bringing state and non-state actors together to create a formidable network of professionals saddled with the responsibility of preventing and responding to the cases of child abuse in Lagos State. TA Academy worked with DSVA as a subject matter expert, whose suggestions and observations were critical to the emergence of the Statewide Child Safeguarding and Protection Policy and served in the implementation committee of the policy. In September 2020, TA Academy was again engaged to be part of the selected few subject matter experts invited to review the Lagos State Child Safeguarding and Protection Policy.
b. Contents Provider and Specialized Facilitator: DSVA partnered with the Office of Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State to launch Safeguarding and Child Protection Online Certificate Course. Mr. Akinlami is found to possess exceptional and critical expertise, which is not readily available in the state, to help DSVA achieve the objective of the training, which is sensitive to the protection of the children of Lagos State. He is one of the 3 facilitators, the only one invited from the private sector while the others are top government functionaries, including the Director of Office of Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State Government Ministry of Education. This certificate course, the first of its kind in Lagos State and arguably Nigeria on introduction to Safeguarding and Child Protection is for every primary and secondary caregiver in Lagos State, both from the private and public sectors. The course, which was launched in July 2020, has been taken by over 15,000 practitioners within and outside Lagos State. https://safeguardingchildren.org.ng/
c. Scholarly and Keynote Contributor: In 2017, DSVA published a journal known as Overcoming Sexual & Gender-Based Violence: Lagos State Experience Journal: Overcoming Challenges through Multi-Disciplinary Approach and invited Mr. Akinlami to contribute a professional paper, titled, ‘Understanding Our Culture and Societal Perceptions to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.’ It is important to note that Mr. Akinlami’s article was positioned as the first chapter of the journal to set the tone to the sensitive conversation, having received entries from other erudite scholars, outstanding and established professionals like Mr. Akinlami and they included Honorable Justice Sherifat Solebo, the Judge of the Special Offences Court, Lagos State High Court, Lagos State Judicial Division and Mrs. Ibirogba Clara Omotilewa, called to the Nigerian Bar in 1981 retired from the Lagos State Civil Service in 2018 as a Permanent Secretary (the highest office a civil servant can attain in Nigeria). She served as the Permanent Secretary of the Office of Establishment and Training, Director in the Ministry of Justice. She headed the Directorate of Legislative Drafting in 2001 and served as the Director of the Directorate for Citizens’ Rights from 2006 until November 2017. The Foreword and Preface of the Journal, written by the former Governor of the State and Attorney-General of the State respectively from submits as follows: ‘indeed, this book would be a resource tool to all stakeholders, responder agencies and other jurisdiction to learn from Lagos State experience.’ The journal circulated both in hard and soft copies in the universities and other higher institutions in Lagos State, government agencies, private and public respondent agents, medical and psychosocial profession in Lagos State and beyond to a population of over 1,000,000 people.
d. Contents Provider & Specialized Facilitator: On Wednesday and Thursday, December 11 & 12, 2019, DSVA partnered with Nigeria Policing Programme, managed by Coffey International Development, and supported by the Security and Justice Reform Programme, funded through the UK government’s Conflict Security and Stabilisation Fund to train all the Customary Court Judges in Lagos State on effective adjudication on matters relating to Domestic and Sexual Violence and Child Safeguarding and Protection and Family Strengthening and Mr. Akinlami’s contents, which he facilitated were a cardinal part of the curriculum as he expounded on the often neglected roles and impact of culture and societal belief system on the subject matters of domestic and sexual violence and Child Safeguarding and Protection.
e. Professional Contributor, Reviewer, & Validator: In August 2020, DSVA partnered with the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) of the British Council to develop a state-wide Standard Operating Protocol for Non-Governmental Organizations and Government Agencies responding to and providing support to persons affected by Child Sexual Abuse, Sexual, Domestic and Gender Based Violence in Lagos State. Mr. Akinlami was one of the few Subject Matter Experts invited to play the role of professional contributor, reviewer, and validator of the Standard Operating Protocol.
f. Public Seminar Contents Provider & Facilitator: Mr. Akinlami has been working with DSVA since 2017 to deliver a cardinal and keynote components of our Child Safeguarding and Protection training and retraining for close to 5,000(five thousand) school leaders, teacher and parents from the 6(six) educational districts in Lagos State.
g. Technical Trainer of Leading Regulators: on Thursday and Friday, June 16 & 17, June 2022, Mr. Akinlami was engaged to disseminate one of his registered and widely subscribed training program, ‘The S.A.F.E® (Securing A Friendly and Protective Environment) EDGE: Systems, Policy and Processes: Keys to Building, Sustaining, Implementing and Monitoring Child Rights, Safeguarding and Protection’ to DSVA regulators (School Monitoring and Safeguarding Officers) at the director level from our agency, the Lagos State Government Ministry of Youth and Social Development and Office of Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State Government, Ministry of Education. This training of our principal officers is a follow up to subscription of our agency to his annual S.A.F.E for Children® Bootcamp in 2018, which some of our principal officers attended to be equipped to do their works as regulators of Child Safeguarding and Protection in Lagos State better.
h. Mentorship Services: Since 2018 till date, Mr. Akinlami has been a mentor at the King’s Club Project, working with secondary school boys in Lagos State to develop and promote positive masculinity as a way of tackling cases of Domestic Violence in Lagos State and Nigeria from the root. He brings his uniqueness and dedication to bear to make the project a huge success.
i. Panel of Judges: On December 7th and 8th, 2021, DSVA invited Mr. Akinlami as part of our panel of judges at our King’s Club debate. Other members of the panels of judges include seasoned and leading professionals in the field of Children Human Rights, Child Safeguarding and Protection, namely, Mr. Denis Onoise, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF and Mr. Lucas Kolajo, State Coordinator, National Human Rights Commission.
Taiwo Akinlami served as an advisor to the Parenting Series of the Sterling Bank PLC, which holds quarterly, and made inputs and offer professional advice same, having participated as a facilitator at the Series 3 of the program on Saturday, March 12, 2016, with the theme: ‘Picking the Right School for Your Child.’(2016)