Isang Awah

Isang Awah works at the University of Oxford’s Department of Social Policy and Intervention where she holds the role of Senior Advocacy Officer at the Global Parenting Initiative. Her research interests include social issues and literacy especially in the Global South and she is dedicated to improving outcomes for children and young people. In the past few years, she worked on the development and testing of ParentApp for Teens, an open-source, mobile application parenting intervention that is based on the Parenting for Lifelong Health Teens programme. The project is part of the UKRI GCRF Accelerating Achievement for Africa's Adolescents Hub which is headed by Prof Lucie Cluver.

In the COVID-19 Playful Parenting Emergency Response project, a collaboration with the WHO, UNICEF, USAID, CDC and other international agencies and organisations, Isang led the dissemination of the COVID-19 parenting resources in West and Central Africa. These resources have reached over 210 million beneficiaries in 198 countries and territories and were part of 34 government COVID-19 responses.

As founder of MyRainbowBooks Limited, Isang introduced in Nigeria personalised storybooks that are tailored for African children. She also initiated the nationwide annual creative writing competition for children in Nigeria. Isang holds a PhD in Education from the University of Cambridge, U.K. She also holds degrees from Harvard University, U.S.A., and the University of Uyo, Nigeria.