The IA-Foundation has stepped up efforts to improve access to education for vulnerable children through a blend of community-based interventions, digital innovation, and policy advocacy to confront Nigeria’s estimated 15 million out-of-school children challenge and remove obstacles to learning in underserved communities.

As part of the initiative, the UK-based non-governmental organisation recently conducted a welfare assessment of its beneficiaries in Makoko, launched a digital stakeholder portal to enhance collaboration and transparency, and announced plans for a high-level summit aimed at finding sustainable solutions to Nigeria’s growing out-of-school children crisis.

It said the latest activities underscore its commitment to advancing inclusive education and strengthening support systems for children at risk of being excluded from learning opportunities.

As part of its commitment to ensuring that children remain in school and receive the support needed to succeed, the Foundation on June 11 deployed a team to Makoko to assess the welfare and academic progress of pupils benefiting from its educational sponsorship programme.

The outreach provided an opportunity for staff members to interact directly with children and their families, verifying school attendance, wellbeing and learning outcomes among beneficiaries whose school fees, uniforms and learning materials are funded by the Foundation.

Beyond educational support, the team inspected a borehole facility previously installed by the organisation to serve residents of the waterfront community. The inspection revealed infrastructure issues requiring urgent attention, prompting plans to commence repairs on the facility’s overhead tank.

Speaking on the outreach exercise, the Executive Director of Foundation, Funke Sotinwa, said the organisation remained committed to supporting children beyond the classroom.

“Our support does not end at paying school fees. We believe in walking alongside these families and ensuring that the environments in which our children grow and learn are dignified and functional,” she said.

In furtherance of its mission to strengthen educational inclusion and stakeholder engagement, the Foundation on June 16 unveiled a new digital stakeholder portal designed to enhance transparency and deepen collaboration with donors, partners and supporters.

According to the Foundation, the upgraded platform introduces a dedicated donor interface that enables stakeholders to monitor impact, engage directly with programmes and contribute more effectively to initiatives supporting vulnerable children.

Founder of the Foundation, Ronke Adeagbo, described the platform as a major milestone in the organisation’s evolution.

“We are not simply changing a website. We are building a digital home that reflects the seriousness of our mission and the value we place on every stakeholder in our ecosystem. This portal is our commitment to radical openness — to showing our community exactly what we do, how we do it, and the lives being changed in the process,” she said.

As part of its broader advocacy efforts, the Foundation will, on June 23, convene an Executive Breakfast Summit in Lagos to galvanise support for solutions to Nigeria’s out-of-school children challenge.

The summit, themed ‘Mind the Gap: Tackling the Crisis of Out-of-School Children in Nigeria,’ will bring together stakeholders from government, the private sector, development institutions, civil society and the media to examine the implications of educational exclusion on national development.

A key highlight of the event will be the presentation of the Foundation’s policy white paper, ‘The Danger of the Knowledge Gap,’ which explores how poverty, insecurity, displacement, and other systemic challenges continue to deny millions of children access to education.

Expected participants include the Lagos State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, senior advisers to the Lagos State Governor on the Sustainable Development Goals, and prominent human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN).

The Foundation said its community interventions, technology-driven engagement initiatives, and policy advocacy efforts underscore a shared objective of ensuring that more Nigerian children gain access to quality education and the opportunities it provides.