CcHUB, British Council launch programme to improve relations between UK and Nigeria

Co-creation Hub (CcHUB), Nigerian-owned social innovation centre, in partnership with the British Council have announced the launch of ‘new narratives pilot’ to develop new ideas that will improve the relationship between the two countries.

New narratives pilot is a Co-creation lab pilot designed to prototype solutions that would help stimulate more plural and diverse narratives to solve the problem of singular, outdated narratives between Africa and the United Kingdom (UK).

According to CcHUB, the partnership will bring 40 digitally savvy young professionals from both places together to develop prototypes to address this challenge.

The pilot, said to be first of its kind, is part of a 5-year programme sponsored by the British Council and delivered by both partners.

It said the pilot aims to support young people to generate and disseminate a new and refreshing narrative of both countries in order to foster new and stronger collaborations that will achieve new Africa/UK understanding and contribute to the mutual benefit of both places.

Scheduled to take place between February and April, the first stage of the programme will see 40 young people comprising 30 Africans and 10 Brits participate in two residential labs in Kigali and Birmingham.

The CcHUB design lab, through its multidisciplinary team of product designers and engineers, will support the participants to explore the application of human-centered design (HCD) to create fresh and innovative solutions for richer narratives.

“Africa’s rapidly growing youth population is the most significant factor for the future of the continent; their relationship with the UK has huge ramifications for our shared prosperity and security, Moses Anibaba, regional director, Sub Saharan Africa region of British council, said.

“New Narratives aims to contribute to ensuring that this future relationship is based on more up-to-date, correct and complete narratives generated through new connections and strong engagement between young people in both places.”

Bosun Tijani, CcHUB’s co-founder and CEO, said the programme provides a unique opportunity to co-create shared prosperity.

“The New Narrative Programme comes at an exciting time for the continent when young people across Africa are extremely intentional about the relationship between African countries and the rest of the world,” Tijani said.

“With the immense opportunity that modern-day technological platforms bring, building these connections through a people to people approach provides not only a unique opportunity to co-create shared prosperity but also take collective ownership for our stories.”