Dr Isang Awah
Head of Advocacy
Dr Isang Awah is the Head of Advocacy at the Global Parenting Initiative, based at the University of Oxford’s Department of Social Policy and Intervention. In this role, she works with national governments, UN agencies and the NGO and FBO sectors to support the uptake of evidence-based, playful parenting programmes, and empowers and supports the GPI national research teams to lead on advocacy for the uptake of the Parenting for Lifelong Health programmes. Isang also hosts a radio programme on parenting on XL106.9FM every Tuesday at 9.20 am (GMT+1).
Isang’s 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. Additionally, she led the dissemination of the COVID-19 parenting resources in West and Central Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As founder of MyRainbowBooks Limited, Isang introduced personalised storybooks in Nigeria that are tailored for African children and 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.
