Reflections from Nigeria and Sierra Leone: A Journey of Empowerment and Transformation

Visiting Teach For Nigeria

We began with a visit by boat to a beautiful school in the community of Makoko, one of the largest slums in Lagos. Here most of the houses are built on stilts and residents rely on fishing for survival while living on water and moving around on canoes. The Teach For Nigeria fellow placed here has assumed the role of Head Teacher in her second year of fellowship.

Seeing the commitment of the teaching fellow, Adetomiwa Awofeso, arriving at school each day by canoe, teaching her students and supporting other teachers, was a beautiful window into the deep commitment from everyone involved in Teach For Nigeria that was on display throughout this visit.

During a meeting with the organization’s ambassadors—champions who raise awareness and visibility—another fellow shared the story of his experience. When he and his co-fellow arrived at their school, 37 students were enrolled but there were no teachers. When the fellows asked the students, “hello, what is your name?” they couldn’t answer. The fellows realized how deep their challenge would be. They dove right in. Realizing their students were too hungry to stay awake during the day, they planted vegetables and were able to work with the community to sell them and generate income to buy food, shoes, and other supplies for their students. When the fellows left the school, enrollment had grown to 193 students, and they had advocated successfully for a new community-based secondary school which is now enabling the students to continue their education. Talk about the power of people and leadership!

I had the privilege of spending time with Teach For Nigeria’s founders and board members who allocated hours each day of the week to attend meetings and events and are deeply engaged in the organization and its strategy. I also met with the team members whose strategic work and dedication were on clear display, as well as with the alumni who have been inspired by this mission.  As one alumna shared in a reflective discussion, “it’s clear this journey never ends.”

I had the privilege of seeing firsthand the strong support of the government partners in the two states where Teach For Nigeria has focused its efforts, where each Governor committed to investing financially in the organization’s work and to bringing the fellows onto the regular payroll if they’re willing to stay at their schools after their two-year commitments.  The Governor of Ogun State shared that the example of Teach For Nigeria has even inspired them to start their own program, Ogun Teach, which has already recruited and developed 5,000 new teachers.

It was so inspiring to see Teach For Nigeria preparing to leverage a network approach to scale their work significantly. I saw the future in the first cohort of social entrepreneurs—many of them Teach For Nigeria alumni—who will be launching independent organizations in their states as part of the TFNx network. They have so much passion and commitment and energy for the path ahead!

Visiting Teach For Sierra Leone

I still remember turning back from the airport in late February 2020, just as I was about to take off for a long-planned trip to our then-newest partner, because of early warnings about the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally we made the visit happen!

We began with a day in the remote rural communities where Teach For Sierra Leone is working. These communities are so underserved that in schools where the fellows are working, there are few teachers; some schools have only one head teacher and others have volunteer teachers who receive small stipends from local community members for their service. 

Left: Here with the fellows, Teach For Sierra Leone CEO Josephine Saidu, and Teach For All’s Pierina Ladzekpo in one of TFSL’s communities; Right: Students took center stage in welcoming us and this young woman stole the show with her incredibly articulate and passionate speech

Perhaps the highlight of our visit was our meeting with the country’s President. He and his Education Minister, who is now the Chief Minister, have been lauded globally for their commitment to education. The President embraced TFSL’s focus on developing leaders who will help him change not only the policy but the practice and culture of the system. Noting TFSL’s multiplying effects, he asked his team to develop a formal partnership that would enable the needed funding and also ensure that the fellows can be absorbed as regular teachers on the government payroll.

I left the country more convinced than ever of the power of our work to develop collective leadership. Sierra Leone is a beautiful country, with gorgeous land and sea, and a wealth of possibilities in agriculture, fishing, and mineral resources. And yet, the education system is still far from where it needs to be to take advantage of all this; only 8% of children in third grade can read a simple sentence. Teach For Sierra Leone will change the country’s trajectory if it can live into its vision—developing 100 leaders each year who are deeply committed to addressing the country’s education challenges so that year after year they ultimately develop hundreds and thousands of change agents working throughout the system. This is the vision the country’s President embraced. It will take so much focus and hard work and energy to achieve this, but it will be so worth it! I can’t wait to learn from TFSL’s journey.

Reflecting on my visits to Nigeria and Sierra Leone, I'm left inspired and encouraged by the power of developing collective leadership.  Everything from the unwavering commitment of Teach For Nigeria fellows transforming education in challenging environments to seeing firsthand the promise of Teach For Sierra Leone's vision has only reinforced my belief in our shared purpose across the Teach For All network. I look forward to continuing to learn from and with our network partners, as we progress together in this journey to develop the leadership necessary to transform education.