How Ekanem beats 4500 others to win ONE’S essay competition

After a rigorous selection and public voting process, Nigeria’s Nyeneokpon Emmanuel Ekanem idea of “Connecting The Unconnected” has won the ONE campaign’s 500-word essay competition. In October 2017, ONE asked young people across the African continent to share their big idea which African leaders should adopt, to harness the power of the continent’s girls to transform all our futures. This was in response to the African Union’s position at the July 2017 Summit that not enough engagement with the youth had been conducted to reach a decision about young people. Over 4 500 young people between the ages of 18 and 35 entered the competition. The top finalists came from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Zambia, Zimbabwe and a total of 19,000 people voted from across the continent.

Ekanem’s big idea is to deploy virtual learning technology that will take formal education directly into the homes of Africa’s children, especially young girls. He will join ONE at the African Union Summit in January 2018, to encourage African leaders to adopt strategic recommendations under the AU’s 2017 theme, “Harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in Youth”.

Executive Director for ONE Africa, Rudo Kwaramba-Kayombo said: “We are excited to have Nyeneokpon join us as we head to the AU Summit to lobby governments to put young people at the centre. To sustain, replicate and maximise youth transforming power in society, African governments should find ways to listen to the voice of the youth and incorporate their input into youth training programmes. Where young people were given the opportunity to participate in the policy-making, they have demonstrated their transformational power.”