ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2021
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In 2021, over 25,000 young leaders on 2,000+ campuses across 153 nations applied to join the Class of 2021. 136 campuses worldwide (just 6%) were selected to host the 2,000+ Millennium Fellows. The Class of 2021 is bold, innovative, and inclusive.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT THOMAS OLUWAFIPONMILE OYEDIRAN, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2021.
Ladoke Akintola University of Technology | Ogbomosho, Nigeria | Advancing SDG 3 & UNAI 1
" Innovations and ideas for changing the world are like seeds that need fertile land to germinate. I am super excited about being a Millennium Fellow. Super excited! As I see this as an opportunity to leverage on to get my raw ideas into good products that people can benefit from. A fertile land I found. Also, I see it as an avenue to collaborate with like minds and work together to solve the world's problems. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Sex Education for Adolescents
Adolescents in many cultures in Nigeria do not have access to information on sexual matters due to the cultural belief and the taboo attached to it. To promote knowledge of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), the Sex Education to Adolescents (SEA) project was designed to educate and empower secondary school students with age-appropriate information. This project will support young people and give them empowerment by improving their analytical, communication and other life skills for health and well-being about sexuality, human rights, values, healthy and respectful relationships, cultural and social norms, gender equality, non-discrimination, sexual behaviour, violence and gender-based violence, consent, sexual abuse and harmful practices. The use of innovative methods to put the message across, such as comics, infographics have been found effective and will be used. Five (5) schools will be involved, with a hundred (100) participants in each secondary school.
According to UNICEF 2017, 44% of young girls are married before their 18th birthday and 18% are married before the age of 15. Furthermore, Nigeria has the largest number of child brides in the world. Also, Nigeria has the highest absolute number of cases of Female Genital Mutilation in the world with 65% prevalence in the southwestern part of the country. Hence, the project aims at reducing the rate of occurrence of early child marriage, teenage pregnancy and female genital mutilation in southwestern Nigeria by creating awareness, educating members of the community, empowering females in the community and involving the male folks in the campaign. It aims at reaching out to adolescents, both males and females, their parents and significant others, and educating them on the effects of early child marriage on the mother, child and society at large, importance of female education and empowerment, consequences of female genital mutilation, reproductive rights and advocating for the girl child. Involving males in the campaign is due to the essential roles they play in decision making and their impacts on the increasing menace.
About the Millennium Fellow
Oyediran Thomas Oluwafiponmile is a young growing man with a global mindset. He was born bread and buttered in Iseyin, Oyo State, Nigeria. He currently schools at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, where he studies Nursing and Nursing Science. His ardentness for growth has been the fuel that fires his innovation and creative ideas which find their place in solving the word problem. His interest lies in reaching out to the upcoming generation and making them potentials leaders as they grow. Thomas believes in his philosophy that leadership is one of the greatest tools to solving problems because the head commands the rest of the body on what to do. He has been living a life that affects everyone around him positively and has built trust over the years. He is never complacent with his accomplishment he focuses on growth.
