Facebook announces the winners of the Community Accelerator Program

Facebook has announced the winners of the Facebook Community Accelerator Program for 2021, highlighting the 13 Facebook community leaders from Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya who will receive training, mentorship, and up to $50,000 USD in funding to invest in a project that will expand their community’s positive impact.

Facebook’s Community Leadership Program, a global program that invests in people developing communities, includes the Community Accelerator. Leaders will learn how to use their community’s strength to put their ideas into action. This year’s cohort includes a wide range of communities involved in intriguing social impact initiatives, such as combatting child sexual abuse, assisting mothers, and sharing stories of ordinary and amazing Nigerians from around the world.

“We’re thrilled to announce the 13 Facebook community leaders in Africa who have been assisting in the resolution of social issues by providing knowledge to their audiences and connecting them with people who share their interests or passion for a cause.” According to Kiran Yoliswa, Facebook’s Partner Management Lead for the Middle East and Africa Community Partnerships, “At Facebook, we’re dedicated to assisting people in realizing their full potential through programs like this.” We want these community leaders to utilize Facebook to effect change and provide support and encouragement to tens of thousands of people. We’re pleased with the results of this year’s Community Accelerator, and we’re looking forward to assisting our 2021 Community Accelerator winners in amplifying their influence to do more good.”

The 13 winners were chosen from a pool of more than 13,000 candidates.

As part of the Facebook Community Accelerator, the community leaders from Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa include:

Nigeria

Achimugu Elizabeth, Protect The Child Foundation – Protect The Child Foundation is committed to protecting and defending the innocence of children against all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation. Our vision is to have a world that is safe for children to live in. A world free from child sexual abuse and all forms of abuse.

Godwin Juliet, Naija Graphic Designers – Established in 2008, this creative community connects the graphic design industry in Nigeria and beyond with the aim of supporting, up-skilling, and offering opportunities for graphic designers to raise industry standards. The community connects employers with freelancers, as well as supporting women creatives.

Izevbokun Osamakue, Mothers, Kids And More (MKM) – Impactful community empowering Nigerian and African women (and their children) to help each other to progress in their personal and professional lives. The community’s aim is to extract and recognize the potential within and without, and empower women to reach out to other women when they need help. Their long-term mission is to have the opportunity to have a center where women can come in and get empowered.

Michael Louisa, Natural Hair Babes – Large community focused on natural hair, sisterhood, and cultural and economic empowerment for Nigerian women and girls. They created an entrepreneurial sales network in November 2020 when we launched our flagship product, a natural hair herb that is very effective in the maintenance of natural hair, so far, 160 women have been empowered as distributors.

Nworah Martin, Tales of Nigerians – Tales of Nigerians is an emotional support and mental wellness community where members have a safe space to share their real-life experiences. Through community events, training’ and on-ground outreach, we have directly impacted around 20,000 members. Our positive impact for the long-term is to continue equipping our growing members with the right tools to grow their emotional intelligence, mental wellness, and synergy with other members.

Ogudoro Peter, Nigerian Teachers – This community for Nigerian teachers has the big ambition of changing the country’s education system one teacher at a time. The community is made up primarily of teachers who are not receiving good training services from their employers for the very important jobs they do. The community is focused on helping them to acquire the skills they need to make Nigeria’s education system globally competitive.

Olisa Enoch, Prepare for JAMB UTME – Prepare for JAMB UTME helps students prepare for Nigeria’s university admission exam with learning resources and news. Their long-term mission is to have all the learning resources (exam syllabus, quizzes, study notes, videos, question and answer forum) all in one place, which members should be able to access free or through a subscription service.

Philip Udeochu, Portfolio 9 (Community) – is a Digital Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Platform (DEEP) with a mandate to bring entrepreneurship and vocational education to people at the bottom of the pyramid in Africa using social media. P9’s mission is to make entrepreneurship accessible by ‘simplifying’ and ‘innovatively’ delivering it to everyone’s doorstep through collective and interactive learning and support, using social media systems and tools. P9 has supported the learning needs of a growing community of over 500k members (currently).

Urhefe Ofejiro, Naija Nurses Forum – Established in 2012, this is a community for nurses across Nigeria who collaborate in providing quality and accessible healthcare services to individuals, whilst supporting each other and sharing best practices in their profession.

Kenya

Mwaniki Sam, Teachers’ Notice Board Kenya – This group is geared towards national cohesion and integration by bringing together teachers, trainees, and tutors from all Teacher Training Colleges in Kenya to build relationships, share job vacancies and promote businesses.

Wala Amakove, Wanderlust Diaries Ltd (Kenya) – brings together a community of travelers to share stories. Founded during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, this mega community of African travelers promotes eco-tourism in Kenya and other African countries as a driver for community development.

South Africa

Ramuada Tshililo, South African Arts & Culture Youth Forum – SAACYF is a community that trains and empowers underprivileged artists from township and rural areas in South Africa through a partnership with other organizations, businesses, and governments. Their aim is to make Arts, Culture & Heritage opportunities accessible to poor disadvantaged artists through job creation.

Splinters Lucretia, The Official Ocean View/Slangkop Group – Ocean View (originally named Slangkop) was established in 1968 by the apartheid government as a township for forcibly removed coloured people. The community is historically disadvantaged, poverty-stricken, and affected by a wide range of social ills. The FB group fosters safety and security, as well as delivering education, hospital care, feeding, and community upliftment programs to empower the local population.