Dr. Adefunke Ekine is Professor of Childhood Education and currently serves as Director of Research and External Relations at Tai Solarin Federal University of Education, Ijagun, Nigeria. She holds a PhD in Early Childhood Education from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and has more than three decades of experience in education, research and school administration. She also holds a master’s degree in early childhood education and a postgraduate diploma in education from the University of Ibadan, as well as a B.S. in Food Science and Technology from the University of Ife. She serves as Country Lead for Nigeria and Cluster Lead for West and Central Africa for Childhood Education International (CE International) and is currently National President of the Organisation Mondiale pour l’Éducation Préscolaire (OMEP) Nigeria, an international organisation promoting the well-being and education of children aged 0–8.
Adefunke is a 2013 Echidna Global Scholar at the Brookings Institution and a member of Brookings’ Learning and Action Alliance for Girls’ Agency. Her research and policy work focus on girls’ education, gender-responsive pedagogy, early childhood education and gender equality in science and technology education. Following her Echidna fellowship, she conducted gender-sensitisation training for more than 300 teachers and has led nationally funded research on gender-responsive pedagogy for preventing gender-based violence in primary schools across three geopolitical zones in Nigeria. Her current work includes research with girls who are out of school in Nigeria to strengthen girls’ agency and inform more responsive education policy and practice.
Professor Ekine is the founder and Executive Director of Youthcare Development and Empowerment Initiative (YcDEI), an NGO through which she has consolidated her interventions with more than 10,000 women and girls in her local community, with support from Echidna Giving, Rockefeller, the Brookings Institution, the Ford Foundation, LEAP Africa and the Fund for Innovation in Development (FID). She is a conference speaker and has authored more than 40 research articles. Her research interests span school-related gender-based violence, STEM education, girls’ education, curriculum development, teacher development and play. She also mentors many early-career scholars at her university.