Inspired Youth Network (IYN), a non-governmental organization that supports young people to promote accountability and transparency through capacity building and policy advocacy has trained 225 young minds between the ages of 10 and 18 to use their artistic skills to promote good governance, accountability and the fight against corruption in their community through its Account Art project, monikered #Art4Accountability, with funding from CIVICUS Solidarity Fund.
The project is also positioned to break the barrier of communicating societal messages to young people, including awareness against corrupt practices as art bridges the gap between the expression and comprehension of societal problems. It will help young people to raise their voice through art and prepare them for future leadership role.
Furthermore, the Account Art project promotes the participation of young people in the actualization of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 and African Union Agenda 2063 through a platform that is creative, fun and entertaining. The project also helps young people to develop their fundamental cognitive capacities, critical analytical skills, and provide learning experiences that have a significant impact on economic and social development.
The training which took place at Oworonshoki community, a rural community in Nigeria, with poor social amenities and high crime rate. The participants drawn from 5 units of the community were trained for three weeks to develop their artistic skills and produce art that promote good governance, accountability and the fight against corruption.
The training helped the young minds to express their minds about the depleting social amenities in their community, the effect of the high rate of corruption in Nigeria and the change they want to see in the community through art. The participants expressed their minds through drawing and painting which helps to breakdown the barrier of communicating societal problems. For example, Chidiebere, a 13 year old girl, painted a girl hawking on the street of Oworonshoki community because her parents cannot afford to fund her education and another painting showing a girl graduating from school.
Chidiebere named the painting “My Dream, My Reality” to showcase the dream and reality of the girl hawking on the street and advocate for free education for girls in Oworonshoki community. Chibunna, a 14 year old boy, painted a woman and her baby demanding alms on the street to pay her hospital bills and feed her baby.
When asked for the inspiration behind the painting, Chibunna said he had an experience in the community where a nursing mother who could not afford health care had to go on the street for alms-begging to pay her health bills. He further said, if government had provided social amenities, the woman would not be on the street begging for alms. At the end of the three weeks training, there was an art exhibition program where the training participants presented their paintings to promote good governance, accountability and the fight against corruption in their community.
Although the use of art to promote good governance and accountability is still very new in Nigeria, the AccountArt project has gained some recognition. Two girls who participated in the training and made paintings to advocate for an end to bribery and corruption in the Nigeria Police Force were appointment as SDG 16 ambassadors by Complete Knowledge Foundation during the Difference Makers Summit held in August 2019 in Lagos. The girls will work with other SDG ambassadors to promote SDGs in Nigeria.
To increase the participation of young people in the actualization of SDG 16 and the 17 SDGs at large, there is a need for an innovative approach such as the use of creative art, which allows young people to own the project and give practical contribution to community development.
Ayomikun Olugbode
Project Coordinator, Account Art Project
Inspired Youth Network
[email protected]
