Ford Foundation and the Lagos Business School (LBS) have announced the establishment of the Innocent Chukwuma Social Impact Chair and Fellowship (ICSICF).
The initiative, Development Diaries understands, is designed to facilitate the emergence
and development of the next generation of visionary, dedicated and result-driven social impact and justice leaders in Nigeria.
With a $1million grant from Ford Foundation, the LBS Sustainability Centre will deliver the ICSICF in honour of the late civil society leader, according to a statement from the LBS.
Chukwuma, who died in April 2021, was a leading voice in Nigeria’s civil society. He was particularly passionate about the need to support the next generation of leaders especially in the country.
‘We are excited about this initiative which will advance Innocent Chukwuma’s legacy of social impact and support youths to be responsible leaders’, the statement quoted the Vice-Chancellor of the Pan-Atlantic University, Professor Juan Elegido, as saying.
‘We thank the Chukwuma family and Ford Foundation for partnering with our institution to drive such a strategic programme’.
The statement said that the ICSICF will be an interdisciplinary youth fellowship that covers management, public policy and governance, impact investment and international development.
‘The Lagos Business School has made a commitment as part of our strategic alignment for the next five years (2021–2025) to prioritise applied learning and research to solve social and institutional problems in Africa’, the Dean of the LBS, Professor Chris Ogbechie, said.
‘The Innocent Chukwuma Social Impact Chair and Fellowship is strategically aligned to the school’s mission to develop responsible leaders for Africa and we are honoured to have our sustainability centre host and manage the initiative in Innocent Chukwuma’s honour’.
Chukwuma was among the prominent advocates for police reforms and helped champion the amendment of the Police Service Act in 2020.
The founder of CLEEN Foundation also served as Regional Director of the Ford Foundation Office for West Africa from 2013 to 2021.
‘The Ford Foundation, like Innocent, believes that empowering youth is an investment worth undertaking for the future of society’, Regional Director of the Ford Foundation Office for West Africa, Catherine Chinedum Aniagolu-Okoye, said.
‘We are glad to support his legacy through this initiative which will enhance the leadership
capabilities of young Nigerians and expand opportunities for them’.
The school noted that applications for the fellowship will open in January 2022.
Source: Pan Atlantic University Foundation
Photo source: IIF
