Jake Okechukwu Effoduh
Jake Okechukwu Effoduh is the Assistant Director of the Council on African Security and Development (CASADE). CASADE is a non-profit research-driven collective of experts and academics that carry our specific projects, and offer guidance and counsel to African ministries, agencies, universities and international organizations. He is also a consultant with Synceritas; the world’s premier human rights based intelligence profiling used to reduce exposure to unethical transactions in business enterprises globally. In addition to these, he is also the founder of Law2Go. Law2Go is the first digital library of human rights laws and legal services in West Africa
Jake Okechukwu has 6 years of experience in using the law for human development and 10 years of experience in the use of traditional media for development. He has been a freelance radio presenter with the BBC Media Action since 2006 anchoring “Talk Your Own Make Naija Better” one of Nigeria’s most popular radio programmes which is aired on over 120 radio stations with more than 30 million Nigerians tuning in weekly. Winning the 2014 Future Africa Awards in Community Actiom and the 2015 Africa Youth Choice Award for Human Rights, Jake Okechukwu has been listed by ventureburn.com as one of the 50 Africans that will transform the continent. He holds a Legum Baccalaureus from the University of Abuja and a Masters in Law from the University of Oxford.
He has held fellowships at the Harvard Law School; the Harvard Kennedy School of Government; Osgoode Hall Law School; and, University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Public Policy. He is currently conducting his doctorate research.
Ojonwa Deborah Miachi
Ojonwa has over five years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics at Bingham University, Nigeria. She also gained a Master of Arts in Development Management taught by the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy of Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, in cooperation with the Institute for Social Development (ISD) of the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. As part of her Master’s program, Ojonwa undertook an internship at ICON-INSTITUTE Consulting Gruppe in Germany where she supported the social research and evaluation team in the thematic areas of good governance, public administration reform, promotion of nonprofits, and child protection.
She was also a policy and advocacy advisor for Connected Development (CODE), Nigeria where she worked on their campaigns relating to open data, government accountability and citizens’ engagement in public affairs through the tracking of funds allocated to rural communities. Before then, she worked as a consultant with the UN SDGs Action Campaign, where her major roles were centered on awareness and ownership creation for the SDGs at global and local level. To this end, she worked towards creating strong ownership and partnerships for the SDGs among nonprofits, the media, the youth, faith-based organizations, African parliamentarians, as well as all tiers of governments at national and subnational level. From these experiences, she has developed skills in the areas of advocacy, partnership building, and data analysis. She is keenly interested in project cycle management, particularly in evaluation, using qualitative and quantitative methods in the thematic areas of child protection, livelihoods and gender mainstreaming.
Chibuike Jude Utaka
Chibuike is the head of factual programmes at BBC Media Action. A media and development communication professional with special interest in Accountability in Government; Public Health Communication; Human Rights; Agriculture; Humanitarian services and interventions that affect everyday citizens in the society. He’s passionate about working in the development media in Nigeria and Africa. He has for the past decade been working in non-profit/ development communication environment.
Ebele oputa
Ebele Oputa is an ambitious and driven young woman who is determined to rise to the uppermost echelon of the development industry. She is a project/relationship manager with over 2 years of experience working in the private and public sectors.
She constantly positions herself for growth and mentorship, as such, is a member of Toastmasters International and the Young African Leaders Initiative Cohort 10. She is passionate about sustainable development and initiatives that cater to needs of Nigeria’s most vulnerable persons. Her career goal is to spearhead socially responsible investments in the public and private sectors in Nigeria, and West Africa.