Will young girls and women ever be free from the shadows of abuse and violence? This is a question that always lingers on the mind of the executive director of Boundless Hands Africa Initiative, Titilayo Ogunbambi, as she dedicated over 10 years of her life in ensuring that girls in Nigeria are safe when they step out to buy sweets, confident enough to pursue their dreams and maximize their potentials and emerge.
In 2016, Ogunbambi founded Boundless Hands Africa, with a mission of preventing all forms of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) through various interventions. Since then, the Foundation has advanced the health and well-being of gender-based violence survivors by facilitating access to sexual reproductive health information/services and psycho-social support to survivors of sexual abuse Nigerians and empowering women and girls living in underserved communities. She has successfully implemented 28 programmes, which have reached over 25,000 people online and face to face.
To intensify her fight against SGBV in Nigeria, Ogunbambi recently launched ‘Emerge’, a book that explains how to protect young girls and women from SGBV.
“Creating a society where everyone is free to lead a happy, safe, and violence-free life, has been my driving force. With every encounter written in this book Emerge, my resolve grew stronger, and my focus remained on setting the girl child free from predestined shackles. A decision I am faced with every time I come in contact with a survivor of violence or abuse,” she averred.
Her strong resolve to change the narrative of SGBV in Nigeria, has given her a lot of local and international recognition and awards. For instance, in 2016, Ogunbambi was selected as one of the 100 young aspiring leaders for the Young African Leadership Initiative training for six weeks.
In 2019, she was selected as one of the 50 young leaders to champion advocacy and policy engagements to eradicate poverty in Nigeria. She received the Future Women’s Award 2019 For African Women Social Worker presented in recognition of her work in supporting women and girls who are survivors and victims of Gender-Based Violence.
Ogunbambi received the Future Women’s Award 2019 For African Women Social Worker presented in recognition of her work in supporting women and girls who are survivors and victims of GBV.
In July 2019, she was selected by UNwomen Nigeria in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and the Norwegian Embassy as one of the 25 Beijing+25 Eaglets to lead the feminist movement in Nigeria for the next 20 years. She also received an award of leadership commendation from the Minister of women affairs at the end of the six months Mentorship program. In October 2020, she was recognized with the girl child advocate award by the ladies of honor Network.
Ogunbambi is a 2021 Mandela Washington Fellow selected by the United States government as an outstanding young leader from sub-saharan Africa and in that same year, she bagged a masters in international development and policy from the prestigious University of Chicago.
She has spoken as an expert in various international and national platforms. For instance, in 2021, she was a speaker at the international trade center, where she spoke to over 1,000 women business owners around the world. She has championed a lot of protests and is always at the forefront of advocating for policies to enhance the lives of women and girls.
Ogunbambi didn’t just wake up and became an advocate of women’s right over night, as her father disclosed that she has been a fighter for justice right from her childhood.
She grew up in the beautiful city of Jos with her lovely family, where she is the fifth amongst six kids and was always known as omo- daddy (Daddy’s girl). Ogunbambi attended air force girls military school Jos, and this gave her a background, which developed her strength and resilience.
After training at Airforce, she attended the University of Jos where she graduated with a bachelor’s honors degree in public administration. Ogunbambi started her social development career journey while pursuing her undergraduate degree, as a member of AIESEC Jos where she became the Vice President of Finance and Administration (VPFA) in 2007. As the VPFA, she had the opportunity to attend various national and international seminars and conferences in various capacities.
Ogunbambi started her professional career at Deltaafrik Engineering Limited, an oil and gas servicing company in Lagos Nigeria. She completed her 1-year compulsory NYSC there and worked as a Procurement Associate from 2011 to 2015. She moved to IHS Towers Nigeria, a Telecommunication Infrastructure company from 2016 to 2020.
In 2015 she also launched her career into the social sector space; where she started as a volunteer counselor at Women Arise for Change foundation and received training from DR. Joe Odumakin. She also got involved in various advocacy campaigns and community outreaches.
In November 2018, she completed a Certificate in non-profit leadership and management from the prestigious Lagos Business school(LBS).
Ogunbambi is a gender activist, policy analyst, and passionate community leader with over ten years of experience in programme design and implementation, gender-based violence advocacy, and sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR). With national and International experience, She worked as a Public Affairs Intern at the United Nations and as a Programs Coordinator at Pathfinder International where she managed country projects in Nigeria and Ethiopia.
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