The IFLA Sub-Saharan African Regional Division Committee (IFLA SSA RDC) is sending one of its members as its representative to the 4th African Youth Sustainable Development Goals Summit, taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

The African Youth SDGs Summit is Africa’s largest youth forum on the Sustainable Development Goals. Launched in 2017, the Summit has evolved to bring together a multi-sector coalition of youth, development experts, government and UN entities, NGOs and the private sector to create the Africa we want together.

Library advocate on the ground

At the age of 19, Damilare Oyedele started to mobilize his friends as volunteers to work towards community library projects. He commenced by publishing articles in Nigerian daily newspapers about the importance of libraries in our society. This initiative later grew into a not-for-profit organization called Library Aid Africa which he now heads as the Co-Founder & Chief Executive. For the past 4 years, he and his team have focused on advocacy and support for the resuscitation of libraries in schools and communities – leveraging digital technology and citizen engagement approaches to drive projects and policy reforms for libraries in over 10 African countries. More so, he serves on Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Committee of The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), where he leads on Global Advocacy Priorities. Currently, he is a MasterCard Foundation Scholar at The African Leadership University, studying Global Challenges, with a research focus on library policy and legislation in sub-Saharan Africa. Learn more and reach out to Damilare: https://linktr.ee/damoyedele Twitter & Instagram: @damoyedele