By An alumnae of the Lagos State University, Rafiat Atanda has won the US Consul General’s Award for Best Carrington Youth Fellow for the class of 2021/2022.
Atanda, who studied English at the varsity, won the award usually given to the most outstanding Fellow of the year for their exceptional commitment, passion, teamwork and creativity.
Speaking about the honour, she said she got the award because she displayed “an uncanny level of aforementioned qualities”, adding that she covered long kilometres every month to attend the knowledge sharing sessions.
“Of about 11 sessions, I was late only once. Plus, despite my 9-5, I dedicated reasonable amount of time towards the successful execution of my team’s (Civil Liberties) project “Juvenile Justice” which focused on equipping 50 juveniles at the Lagos Correctional Facility for Boys in Oregun, Lagos with digital skills as well as a stakeholders’ roundtable discussion on the challenges facing the juveniles and the establishment of a policy reform process with NIGAC,” Atanda said.
“Other fellows found me valuable, as I was open to listen to their projects and offer to help when necessary. I contributed meaningfully to our random and intentional conversations and they could see my passion wasn’t a mere buzzword; it was really a burning desire to reimagine an equitably sustainable world.”
The Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative (CYFI) is a dynamic youth-based initiative launched in 2011 by the U.S. Consulate General, Lagos. CYFI brings together Nigerian youth of exceptional vision, skills, and experience to design and implement projects that are having a positive impact on Nigerian society.
