Annual Report 2024

Bite-Sized with a Big Impact: ECHO Education in Nigeria 

Improving access to continuing education is an urgent need for educators and there's a local team using the ECHO Model to help. 

In Nigeria, the adult literacy* rate is near 60% and nearly 40% of educators have not received certification to teach. Improving access to continuing education is an urgent need for educators and there’s a local team using the ECHO Model to help. 

The most significant problem for connectivity to ECHO sessions, in addition to total system outages, is being able to afford it. The value of Nigerian currency has depreciated, and this is a real impact on ECHO session attendance,” says Dr. Olajumoke Beulah Adigun, faculty team lead for the ECHO Education Hub team, comprising three education graduate students based in Oklahoma and two team members in Nigeria.

Clement Audu, one of the graduate students and a prior ECHO Education participant when he was living in Nigeria, devised a solution: break the recorded ECHO session into bite-size, lower-data videos posted to Facebook and WhatsApp groups. “People are really gravitating toward the video clips because it means they can participate, even when they cannot afford data at the time of the session, or lose their connection,” Audu says. 

Adapting the ECHO Model for a New Context

When the first ECHO for Education session launched in February 2022, the program built off of two critical pillars: Nigeria’s ECHO network had launched more than 30 successful health programs, and a group of Nigerian students and educators had experience working with United States-based ECHO education programs at Oklahoma State University.

“What we want to achieve, over the years, is to empower participants with understanding ECHO more and more, so that eventually, the program and leadership stand on their own in Nigeria,” says Clement Egure, Ph.D., another Hub team member.  

After the 2022 program launched with sessions emphasizing classroom management, the Hub team relied on survey feedback to choose priorities for the next participant group. They focused on leveraging technology that works best for limited data access, such as Google Suite and Plotagon (for lesson plans and educational videos); increasing frequency to weekly ECHO sessions; and providing credentials that could further educator careers.

A teacher and ECHO participant at Tosin Cormenius Primary School in Nigeria leverages tools from ECHO to create more engaging curriculum for her students. Photo Credit: ECHO Education Nigeria Hub Team

One hundred or more people have participated in each ECHO program. One participant received a state-level award for building on initiatives they learned in ECHO, and others leverage the credentials they attain through the ECHO programs for promotions or move into administrative positions. More than 80% of participants say they directly use ECHO-learned skills in their work.  

The Hub team attributes their success in participant levels and pragmatic curriculum to working closely with the Nigerian community. As Dr. Adigun notes, “We have Clement, who transitioned from being an ECHO session participant in Nigeria to now working here at Oklahoma State University. We also work closely with Dr. Kisia of Project ECHO; Dr. Oladipo, who is one of our site leaders in Nigeria; Madame Osita, another site leader; and many others. These members of our team on the ground keep the work on track.”  

The ECHO program has also come full circle, as the Hub team members have explored ECHO’s impacts in their graduate schools research. Egure’s “Exploring Value Creation in ECHO Education Nigeria Social Learning Space: A Qualitative Case Study” has been selected for presentations at the American Educational Research Association and the University Council for Educational Administration. 

Featured Image Caption: Students at Tosin Cormenius Primary School, one of the schools partnering with ECHO Education Nigeria. 

*Adult literacy is the percentage of people, aged 15 and older, who can read, write, and understand simple statements about their daily lives.

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Acknowledgement The ECHO Education Nigeria team would like to recognize Ed Harris, Ph.D., a retired professor of educational leadership, who led the pioneering of this work in 2021 and continues to serve in support of the work. Dr. Beulah Adigun, assistant professor at Oklahoma State University, who joined this work in 2022, has since served as the Faculty Team Lead for EEN.   

Other Hub team members include Dr. Dominic Egure, Clement Audu, and Micheal Afolabi, all of whom were part of the pioneering efforts with Dr. Harris. Sede Caroline and Owoyeye-Taiwo Tosin are also members of the Hub Team based in Nigeria. They work tirelessly to coordinate EEN’s work locally, and these efforts have become pivotal in giving the work the momentum and traction it enjoys.   

EEN has a dedicated team of technical support specialists who provide day-to-day technical support to participants through the group’s WhatsApp page. These specialists include Oluwayemi Osite, Dr. Bolanle Oladipo, and Simdowa Audu. EEN has also received support from several faculty members at Oklahoma State University, including Dr. Katherine Curry, Dr. Jentre Olsen, Dr. Ashley Fiegener, Dr. Mary Jo Self, Dr. Tutaleni Asino, and Dr. Penny Thompson. 

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Media Contact:

Ben Cloutier
Director of Communications & Marketing
Project ECHO
(505) 252-4157
BeCloutier@salud.unm.edu