A Nigerian, Adanma Ujam, a Government Affairs Lead for Nigeria and other emerging markets in Africa at Microsoft, has been honoured with the Dean’s Prize for Outstanding ALM Capstone, Cambridge in United States.
Ujam, who is also a former staff of Central Bank of Nigeria, (Information Technology and Development Finance) was honoured while completing her Master’s degree in Global Development Practice.
It was learnt that the award was designed to recognise the highest level of academic excellence.
Ujam’s award-winning thesis, titled “Improving Access to Basic Education: A Development Plan,” was inspired by the Alternate School Programme.
She spoke on a critical component of her capstone, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework, while reacting to the achievement, on her LinkedIn post, noting that the government initiative was developed during her tenure as the Special Adviser to the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development.
She explained that her capstone explored the use of social intervention programmes as a means of incentivising school attendance, as a whole community approach to learning from the parents, to community leaders and members.
“The M&E framework I designed adapted the United Nations SDGs targets and further localised the indicators. This approach mainstreams the SDGs, accelerating progress and enabling clearer reporting. Within the scope of the project, eight of the 17 Goals are impacted, along with 26 targets and 32 indicators.
“I have received several questions about being chosen as the recipient of the 2024 Dean’s Prize for Outstanding ALM Capstone in Global Development Practice. So I’m taking the liberty to respond here. Happy reading…
“The focus of my work was improving access to basic education in Nigeria, primarily targeting underserved and unserved communities. Primary education in Nigeria is compulsory and free, as provided by the Federal Government’s Universal Basic Education Policy (1999).
“As at 2021, the reported global figure for out of school children and youth between ages 6 and 18 was 244 million, 20 million of which represent Nigeria’s out of school children. My capstone explored the use of social intervention programmes as a means of incentivising school attendance, as a whole community approach to learning – from the parents, to community leaders and members. In effect, the entire community is encouraged to support school attendance.
“This work started during my time as Special Adviser to the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, through an initiative called the Alternate School Programme.
“A critical component of my capstone is the M and E framework that I designed, which adapted the United Nations SDGs targets and went further to localise the indicators, as a means of mainstreaming the SDGs, thus accelerating progress and enabling clearer reporting. Within the scope of the project, 8 of the 17 Goals are impacted, as well as 26 targets and 32 indicators.
“It will be remiss not to mention the generosity of my client, the Ilmi Children’s Fund, which allowed me to achieve this remarkable success.
“I am very passionate about deepening access to education and it’s potential socio-economic impact. Improving lives and livelihoods is the goal, driving inclusiveness and ensuring sustainability is the ambition. I hope that we can begin to rethink formal education to cater to social, cultural and religious nuances because truly, no one deserves to be left behind,” she added.
Nonye Ujam is married to Hon. Dr Chukwuemeka Ujam mni, Managing Partner of Nina Jojer Limited and former member of the House of Representatives, where he was known for sponsoring the Digital Rights Bill, among other legislative efforts. They have 4 children.
Ujam said; “The focus of my work was improving access to basic education in Nigeria, primarily targeting underserved and unserved communities. Primary education in Nigeria is compulsory and free, as provided by the Federal Government’s Universal Basic Education Policy (1999).
“As at 2021, the reported global figure for out of school children and youth between ages 6 and 18 was 244 million, 20 million of which represent Nigeria’s out of school children.
“My capstone explored the use of social intervention programmes as a means of incentivising school attendance, as a whole community approach to learning – from the parents, to community leaders and members. In effect, the entire community is encouraged to support school attendance.
“This work started during my time as Special Adviser to the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, through an initiative called the Alternate School Programme.
“A critical component of my capstone is the M and E framework that I designed, which adapted the United Nations SDGs targets and went further to localise the indicators, as a means of mainstreaming the SDGs, thus accelerating progress and enabling clearer reporting. Within the scope of the project, 8 of the 17 Goals are impacted, as well as 26 targets and 32 indicators.
“It will be remiss not to mention the generosity of my client, the Ilmi Children’s Fund, which allowed me to achieve this remarkable success.
“I am very passionate about deepening access to education and it’s potential socio-economic impact. Improving lives and livelihoods is the goal, driving inclusiveness and ensuring sustainability is the ambition. I hope that we can begin to rethink formal education to cater to social, cultural and religious nuances because truly, no one deserves to be left behind.”