Through the support of Luminate, our Labs in Nigeria and South Africa were able to keep building networks of young music artists – through the Voice2Rep campaign – and government reformers – through the Integrity Icon campaign – all committed to creating a culture of integrity and accountability in their respective societies. 

Government Reformers

Through Integrity Icon both Labs seek to highlight reformers who can actively push for change within their institutions. They seek to identify Icons who must not only demonstrate honesty, integrity and accountability in their field of work, but also demonstrate the ability to influence social norms and behaviors in line with these values in their respective institutions and disciplines. 

In 2021, there were phenomenal examples of this from previous Icons in both countries. For instance, three Icons from the Integrity Icon South Africa 2020 cohort received further recognition for their exemplary work and were given new opportunities. Firstly, Adv. Constance Moitse, who was responsible for turning around systemic corruption in the Department of Home affairs, was promoted to Deputy Director General – Counter Corruption and Security, raising the scope of her responsibility and  influence in the Department. 

Meanwhile, Unathi Filita became a guest lecturer at the Department of Social Work at Nelson Mandela University where he now provides community facilitation support and mentorship to third-year students in their practical learning component. Also, Sadna Balton was profiled among the Mail and Guardian Power of Women winners for 2021 in the health category. In February of this year the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital’s audiology unit, which she leads, was awarded the Gold Prize for the most responsive public institution in the Department of Public Service and Administration’s Batho Pele Public Service Excellence Awards. 

In a great example of collaboration between reformers, Bar. Emem Etteh, a 2021 Nigerian Icon from the Ministry of Justice in Akwa Ibom State, is working with Francis Erhabor, a 2019 Nigerian Icon from the police force, to provide the necessary support from the ministry to the police force to prosecute GBV cases. Erhabor has also designed and activated the Police Officers Making a Difference (POMAD) network, with 20 active members from the police force contributing to influencing the perceptions of the Police force in Akwa Ibom State through community engagements. 

Conscious Music Artists

Luminate’s support for the Voice2Rep Nigeria campaign also allowed the team to grow the scale and impact of the campaign over the past year including outreach, access to training, mentorship, and platforms to 10 Voice2Rep artists to showcase their work. 

Under the theme of business integrity and human rights, the artists were trained in Lagos for 13 days by leaders from organizations such as the  Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), the Convention of Business  Integrity (CBI), the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), OANDO Foundation, and TASCK Agency. The training exposed the artists to concepts of human rights and integrity in business and the importance of using their voices to promote awareness. 

The artists were also paired up with music artists from Yes Academy music artists on media  literacy and songwriting, with support from the US Embassy, on the basics of distribution,  collaboration, music business strategy, and revenue stream development. Voice2Rep artists were paired with mentors (industry experts), including Well-Versed program founder Richard Steigner who mentored the artists alongside. In his recent visit to  Nigeria, he reinforced the need to participate in the upcoming elections and for the artists to use their various platforms to create awareness around voter registration. 

Other music industry experts that acted as mentors included Grammy Award winner Chopstiix, MI  Abaga, Bez Idakula, former Head of A&R at Warner Music Toda Kafang, and entertainment lawyer Juliana Imam, Nkasi Obi, Debbie Romeo, and Titi Adesanya, a product manager. 

Through V2R, a total of 13 songs and 3 videos were produced and distributed with the title of the album #Genwoke (The Generation of the Conscious). The title of the album was chosen by the artists and signifies a socially conscious generation that is alert to the  injustices of society. The project has provided several outlets and platforms for the artists to showcase their talent including the national concert was held at the New Afrika shrine owned by Fela Kuti’s family in Lagos, which is a platform dedicated to advocating for  citizen’s participation, good governance, and accountability in Nigeria. 

The national concert was planned in a hybrid format which had 155,000 online viewers and 600 physical attendees. Other smaller events include the Clout Africa Session Listening Party, Moni’s  Playlist, DDTM listening session, and a concert at Transcorp Hilton Abuja. The artists also performed at the 8th Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Summit held in Abuja and the University of Abuja Beauty and Brains Pageant where artists performed with other popular artists like Teni the Entertainer. The smaller events had a cumulative reach of over 15,580 people. 

Furthermore, to raise awareness of critical issues on business integrity, and human  rights through their songs, the artists have featured on several platforms like the Osasu  show, Soundcity 98.5, NigeriaInfo Lagos, BeatFM 99.9, Nigeria Customs Broadcasting  Network, and BRTV – TSTV Abuja. 

Through V2R the team seeks to build a vibrant network among artists and industry experts to  collectively push for change. In this regard we partnered with the US Embassy in Nigeria through the Well-Versed media literacy and songwriting program to put together an  accountability music hub (recording studio) as a creative space for artists to produce music  and create connections. We will be extending our relationship with Yes Academy where we are training artists on how to use their voices ahead of the 2023 elections. This is an important step forwards in terms of the sustainability of the program and of the networks  we have seeded with Luminate support. 

“As we all know every field needs mentorship so that the latter can do  better than the former,” says V2R participant Haye Frama. “It’s no different in this case because indeed we  were mentored well during the 2 weeks of training. We had people high up  in the music space whom we had always admired come identify with us.  They were kind enough to share with us their wealth of experience in the  industry. My eyes were opened to certain realities I needed to come to terms with, challenges I needed to anticipate, and steps I needed to take to  achieve great results musically. Having M.I Abaga, Chopsticks, and Miss Toda Kafang mentor us was such a blessing”. 

The VR2 process and voices have served as a tool for transformation in Nigeria as the  platform provided the opportunity for young people to engage in constructive  conversations about rights, responsibilities, participation, and the promotion of integrity.  

Coalition Building

Another important aspect of V2R is to build coalitions within the music industry who can use their voices to  advocate for positive change. AL Nigeria has entered into a partnership with TASCK Agency to strengthen the coalition platform of Voice2Rep. 2021’s engagement brought together all past Voice2Rep artists from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years with influential voices within the  music industry including Debbie Romeo, Nkasi Obi, Toda Kafang, MI Abaga, Chopstiix. 

In creating and supporting a broader ecosystem that can strengthen integrity and accountability, AL Nigeria partnered with the Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) to host a CSOs meeting on the National Ethics and Integrity  Policy (NEIP). The meeting was geared towards getting commitments from CSOs that work on anti-corruption, integrity, and values sensitization, to see how the implementation of the policy can be amplified to also entrench the values of the policy in society. 

AL Nigeria also hosted leaders of CSOs (CODE, BUDGIT, Enough is Enough, Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, Spaces for Change, NNNGO, Citizens Gavel, One Campaign, Luminate, and Art for Humanity amongst others) to a virtual fail fair meeting to share failures, learn and also celebrate failure as a mark of leadership, innovation, and risk-taking in pushing the boundaries of what is possible in scaling ideas and surviving the civic space in Nigeria. 

In South Africa, the team’s close work with the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has enabled them to learn more about one another and their respective ways of working to support their three year relationship as implementing partners of our EU-funded project, Action for Accountability. 

They are building new partnerships with the Public Service Accountability Monitor who are respected experts and field-builders in the social accountability monitoring community in South Africa and the SADC region, and with whom they will also be implementing the EU-funded project. Internationally, and as a result of the credibility of the translocal network, ALSA is supporting the strengthening of dynamic accountability in the international civil society community through their Country Director’s membership of the Accountable Now board of trustees.

Kibo Ngowi