Age
15
Country of Residence
Nigeria
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
The idea for Skills in Action began with a challenge in our own home. For a long time, our mum has struggled to find suitable tutors for my younger sisters. Ruth, 14, loves music and dance and wants to learn musical instruments, while Rachel, 12, is passionate about drawing, painting and sculpting. Finding skilled tutors who can come to the house has been difficult and, when our mum eventually found a music tutor for Ruth, the cost was quite high. We are still searching for an art tutor for Rachel. Our mum also searched online for learning videos, but most of the videos she found were either too general or did not explain the skills clearly enough for a young learner to practise independently. This experience inspired Skills in Action, an online platform where children and young people can learn practical skills through clear, age-appropriate lessons that combine theory with practice. Through the platform, a five-year-old could learn the basics of painting, including how to mix colours and create a picture, while a ten-year-old could learn to read musical notes and apply them to an instrument of their choice. Skills in Action was created to make quality practical education more accessible, affordable and engaging for young people, regardless of where they live or whether they can find a tutor nearby
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
Skills in Action is still at the idea stage, so we have not formally engaged participants or delivered lessons yet. However, the idea began through conversations within our family about the difficulty of finding affordable and reliable tutors for young people interested in music, dance and art. These conversations helped us recognise that unequal access to practical education may affect many other families as well. Our first step will be to share the idea with children, parents, teachers and tutors. We will speak directly with children and teenagers to identify the skills they are interested in and the barriers they face. Parents will help us understand affordability, access and safety concerns, while instructors will help us design practical learning experiences that children can realistically complete online. We also plan to use social media, schools, youth organisations and community groups to start conversations about the importance of practical education and invite young people to participate in testing our first learning modules. Rather than simply building the platform for young people, we want them to help shape it. Our goal is to build a growing community of learners, parents, educators, skilled instructors and young changemakers who believe that every child should have the opportunity to discover a skill, develop it and use it to make a difference.
How many people are on your team?
4
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
Skills in Action is currently at the idea stage, so we have not reached learners yet. However, our vision is to make practical learning more accessible to children and young people, particularly those who cannot afford private tutors or do not have access to quality skills training in their communities. We hope to initially reach children and young people aged 5–20, with a focus on learners from underserved communities. Over time, we aim to reach thousands of young people across Nigeria and, eventually, other African communities. Our expected impact goes beyond the number of learners enrolled. We want to see young people acquire practical skills, complete projects, develop confidence, discover their talents and use what they learn to solve real problems around them. We also hope to help young people build skills that can eventually support entrepreneurship, employability and economic independence. We believe the idea will work because it responds to a clear need, can reach learners beyond the limits of local tutors and is designed around practice rather than passive viewing. By using age-appropriate lessons, affordable materials, peer learning and community projects, Skills in Action can make practical education more accessible while helping young people become confident creators, problem-solvers and changemakers.
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Idea (We’re hoping to get started in the future)
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
Skills in Action is a youth-led online learning platform that equips children and young people aged 5–20 with practical, creative, digital, and life skills, while empowering them to apply what they learn to solve real-life problems, create opportunities, and make meaningful contributions to their communities.
Project title
Skills in Action
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
Across our communities, children and young people have different talents, interests and dreams, but access to practical education is often very limited. A child whose family can afford private tutors, specialised lessons or expensive training has opportunities that may not be available to another child with the same potential. Also, many young people leave school with academic knowledge but limited practical, digital, creative or entrepreneurial skills that can help them become economically independent. This contributes to youth unemployment and limits their ability to create opportunities for themselves and others. Digital exclusion makes the gap even wider, particularly for young people who cannot access quality, structured learning beyond the classroom. This is more than a problem of children not having hobbies. It is about opportunity, inclusion and participation. Young people should not only be prepared to look for jobs; they should be equipped to create jobs, solve problems and contribute meaningfully to their communities. Skills in Action addresses this gap by making practical learning more accessible and engaging, while connecting learning to real-life application. We want to help every young person, regardless of background, discover what they can do, develop useful skills and use those skills to create opportunities and make a difference in their communities
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next three months, our priority will be to move Skills in Action from an idea to a tested prototype. First, we will speak with children, teenagers, parents and potential instructors to better understand the skills young people want to learn, the barriers they face and what would make online practical learning engaging and effective. We will use these insights to refine our idea and identify the first set of skills and age groups to serve. Next, we will recruit a small group of volunteer tutors and youth mentors to help develop age-appropriate lessons. We will create simple videos, demonstrations, downloadable guides and practical assignments using affordable, locally available materials. We will then build a simple, low-cost pilot platform using accessible digital tools. The first version will include learner registration, lessons, practice projects, feedback, progress tracking and opportunities for peer learning. Where possible, selected content will be downloadable for learners with limited internet access. We aim to test the pilot with at least 50 children and young people aged 5–20. We will collect feedback from learners, parents and tutors, measure lesson completion and assess whether participants can demonstrate and apply what they have learned.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
The innovation behind Skills in Action is not simply putting practical skills online. Many platforms already offer videos and courses, but they often focus on content consumption: learners watch, complete a lesson and move on. Skills in Action is designed around learning, doing and contributing. Each lesson will include a clear explanation, a demonstration, guided practice and a project that learners can complete using affordable, locally available materials. A child will not only watch a painting lesson, for example, but will practise colour mixing, create a picture and receive feedback. The platform will also connect learning to community action. Learners can use their skills to address real needs by creating environmental campaigns, preparing healthy food, producing educational content, organising cultural activities or developing small social enterprises. This turns learning from a private hobby into a pathway for confidence, employability and civic leadership. Another innovative feature is peer-to-peer learning. Young people who master a skill can share it with others, mentor younger learners and contribute lessons or project ideas. This makes learners active contributors rather than passive consumers and helps the platform grow through community knowledge. Skills in Action will also consider digital exclusion. Content can be designed for low-data use, made available for download where possible and supported by simple instructions that do not depend on expensive equipment. Our innovation is therefore not just the use of technology. It is the way we use technology to make practical learning accessible, collaborative and connected to positive change.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
Skills in Action is an online practical-learning platform for children and young people aged 5–20. It makes quality skills education more accessible by bringing structured, affordable and age-appropriate practical learning to young people, regardless of where they live or whether their families can afford private tutors. The platform will provide short, age-appropriate lessons in areas such as cooking, baking, music, creative arts, crafts, digital technology, entrepreneurship, and other practical areas. Each skill is broken into simple, progressive lessons that combine explanation, demonstration, guided practice and practical challenges. For example, child learning painting would not only learn about colours and techniques but would be guided through actually mixing colours and completing a painting. A child learning music could learn musical notes, understand rhythm and then apply that knowledge to an instrument. Unlike platforms that simply provide videos for children to watch, Skills in Action is designed around learning by doing. Skills in Action also connects skills to real-life application and community participation. Learners will be encouraged to complete projects, create useful products, solve problems and use their skills to contribute to their families, schools and communities. For example, a young person learning graphic design could create materials for a community campaign, while someone learning entrepreneurship could develop a small solution to a local problem. Through this approach, Skills in Action aims to move young people from learning skills to using skills, building confidence, creativity, economic potential and a stronger sense that they can contribute meaningfully to society.
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
Our founding team currently consists of four people: Ruth, Rachel and I (the three young people developing the idea, bring the learners’ perspective and help shape what children need), and our mum, who supports us in refining the idea and thinking through its feasibility. We share ideas, discuss decisions and develop the concept together. As we progress, we plan to bring in a developer to build the platform and other skilled collaborators as needed.
