In 2013, then 19-year-old Victoria Ibiwoye founded the OneAfricanChild Foundation for Creative Learning.
OneAfricanChild is a youth-led NGO that addresses education inequality through experiential workshops focusing on global citizenship education for underserved children in Nigeria. She is an influential educational activist with a global reach. In 2017 and 2018, she was named one of 100 Most Influential Young Africans by the African Youth Awards. She is also a 2019 Mandela Washington Fellow and a recipient of the Princess Diana Awards for her contribution to education advocacy and youth development.
She was inspired to found OneAfricanChild due to her experiences with dyslexia. “I had to figure out on my own how to succeed at my academics. This not only affected my academic standing it also affected my self-esteem and my social, emotional interactions with others in the classroom and in society,” she recalls. “So it shows that our education system is not as inclusive as it should be, where certain children don’t feel like they belong because they learn differently.” (OHCHR)
Her foundation is important not only for children with learning difficulties, but also for underprivileged children who might not have time to devote to their education due to work/family responsibilities. Inclusive environments where every child can thrive is the goal of this education activist.