Contraception is often discussed as though the question is simply whether people can access a method. But access begins much earlier than the point at which someone walks into a clinic or pharmacy. It begins with a much more fundamental question: What options are actually being developed in the first place?
By Sanyaolu Oluwatamilore Oluwabusola
“Leave no one behind.”
This is one of the most repeated promises in global development.
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Left: Official Poster for ‘A Land Apart’. Right: Bem Pever, Filmmaker, Producer, and Director. |
On October 23, 2026, A Land Apart, directed by Bem Pever and written by Echobu Michael Garuba and Emil Garuba, arrives in cinemas. The film imagines an alternate Nigeria where agriculture, rather than oil, drives national wealth. It is an intriguing premise, and one that had me hooked from the moment I stumbled upon its announcement on Instagram.
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| Ojonugwa Yahya braids the hair of a girl at the IDP Camp |
Partner Contribution: This article was written by CoHuman (Collective Humanity Development Network) and is published here by Shades of Us as part of our partnership to amplify stories and perspectives that advance justice, human rights, and social change. Thank you.
There is a particular kind of quiet that settles over a child while her hair is being braided. Her shoulders drop. Her eyes soften, sometimes close. Someone's hands are on her head, moving slowly, deliberately, with care. For a few minutes, nothing is being asked of her. She is simply being tended to.
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| Custodians of Human Stories |
Partner Contribution: This article was written by CoHuman (Collective Humanity Development Network) and is published here by Shades of Us as part of our partnership to amplify stories and perspectives that advance justice, human rights, and social change. Thank you.
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| Simbiat Amzat participates in the co-creation session at the Young Political Leadership Co-Creation Lab, organised by the OMYV Alumni Network in Abuja, with support from Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Nigeria |
What does it take to move from criticising a system to becoming part of it? What happens when years of watching things go wrong lead you to step forward and try to change them yourself?
On Tuesday, October 13, 2026, Hope Behind Bars Africa (HBBA), in partnership with the Embassy of France in Nigeria, commemorated the World Day Against the Death Penalty with Stories of Life: Beyond the Sentence. The event brought together justice sector practitioners, human rights advocates, diplomats, and members of the public to examine the human realities of capital punishment in Nigeria.
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| Panel Session at the Healing Digital Futures: AI and Mental Health Conference, which happened in Abuja on October 13, 2026 |
On October 13, 2026, I represented Shades of Us at the Healing Digital Futures: AI and Mental Health Conference, organised by Digital Rights and Mental Health Initiative (DRMHI) and HumAngle. The conference was hinged on a question we do not often ask, and for some people, do not even think about: what happens to our mental health in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence?
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| Ramatu Ada Ochekliye, Founder of Shades of Us, and Yecenu Sasetu, anchor of the WADR Democracy and Governance Forum in Abuja |
Nigeria’s electoral process has faced persistent questions about electoral credibility, public trust, and citizens’ confidence in the institutions responsible for conducting elections. Although electoral reforms, including the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), raised expectations for greater transparency, concerns surrounding the 2023 general elections left questions about the management of results and the accountability of electoral institutions. As the country approaches the 2027 general elections, these concerns intersect with growing voter apathy, political disillusionment, economic hardship, insecurity, and doubts about whether electoral participation translates into meaningful political representation.
By Sanyaolu Oluwatamilore Oluwabusola
On 24 September 2026, I attended a session of the African Feminist Macroeconomics Academy (AFMA), one on feminist trade and regional integration. I left the session with a question I keep returning to. It is a simple question, almost deceptively so: When we talk about African goods crossing borders freely, why do we so rarely ask whether the people behind those goods can cross just as freely?
By Sanyaolu Oluwatamilore Oluwabusola
There are some things we encounter so frequently that we stop questioning them. Care is one of them.
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| Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash |
When Jessica got married to Michael, everyone in the neighbourhood said she was lucky.
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| Shades of Us Team in Abuja, Nigeria |
I recently came across a webinar hosted by Hexa Media Africa, titled “Income Diversification in the African NGO Sector — Exploring Social Enterprise Models,” and it truly left me with quite a number of things to think about, one of which particularly speaks to the question of how financial sustainability can actually start to shift the original vision behind why certain missions start in the first place.
By Victor Jacob
“Rome was not built in a day.” Neither is an organisation's culture. It requires everyone's effort.
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| Photo by African Student Association on Unsplash |
At some point, “What do you want to become?” stops being a childhood question.
It has become a deadline.
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| Photo by Mariia Berezovsky on Unsplash |
Having your friends over for dinner can be exciting, especially when you have not seen each other in a long time. You have planned the meetup for weeks. You prepare the food, arrange the table, and look forward to catching up on old times.
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| Photo by Oscar Omondi on Unsplash |
A young person can spend years preparing for examinations and still feel unprepared when the examinations end. They can graduate with good grades yet struggle to write an application email to a potential employer. They can understand all the theories and still feel lost when faced with a problem that has no clear answer. They can even acquire diverse certificates and yet wonder what they are actually prepared to do with them.
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| Photo by Random Institute on Unsplash |
Sustainable development does not happen from the top down. It grows from the ground up, through the people who experience the effects of development every day. Development plans created outside a community may have good intentions and enough funding, but they can struggle to continue when the funding ends and the outside organisations leave. Community partnership can help change this. It makes development a shared responsibility and gives people a role in shaping solutions that affect their lives.
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| Photo from the 2026 Men's Summit. Image Credit: YouthHub Africa |
By Victor Jacob
Conversations on gender equality and the fight against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) have gone on for as long as I can remember.
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| Shades of Us First Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) Interns at an Official Event to Chart A Way Forward for Nigeria's Economic Development |
by Ramatu Ada Ochekliye
The first set of interns placed at Shades of Us through the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) have completed their six-month training with us.
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| Shades of Us at the “Collectively Inspiring SBCC in Nigeria” Event Hosted by CCSI in Abuja. Image Credit: CCSI. |
When three of our abstracts were accepted for the 2026 International Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) Summit happening in Panama, I was excited. No, that doesn’t quite capture my feeling. I was over the moon with joy. I kid you not: I pranced a bit in my room because I felt super proud of myself, my team, and the work we do at Shades of Us.
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| Photo by Farah Nabil on Unsplash |
Abuja is flooding again. And, as expected, everybody has something to say about who is responsible.
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| Fighting for women’s rights is our feminist call. And sometimes, it takes a toll on our physical and mental health. |
There has been a lot of conversation recently about Trevor Noah and South Africa.
