The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Friday in Lagos officially launched a Behavioural Insights Research and Development Laboratory (BIRD-Lab) for Nigeria and domiciled it at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Idi-Araba.
The BIRD-Lab, which is the second in Africa after Ethiopia’s in Addis Ababa, is a multidisciplinary network dedicated to harnessing the power of social and behavioural insights in child survival and development programming in Nigeria.
The global agency launched the laboratory in collaboration with Nigerian universities, both public and private, and the Federal Ministries of Health and Information.
No fewer than 19 universities — including UNILAG; the University of Ibadan; University of Maiduguri, Borno; Bayero University, Kano; Lagos State University, Ojo; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Yakubu Gowon University (formerly University of Abuja); Chrisland University, Abeokuta; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Benin; and University of Jos — have already connected to the project, with more expected to join subsequently.
Speaking at the launch, UNICEF’s Country Representative in Nigeria, Ms. Wafa Saeed, emphasised the importance of the research hub to Nigeria, saying “it is really a platform to transform our collective work for children.”
According to her, “The mandate of UNICEF is to support member states and communities to ensure children are not only getting the best start in life but also reaching their full potential as they grow into adulthood.”
Ms. Saeed observed that understanding how humans think, decide, and act is essential to achieving UNICEF’s mandate.
“And that is why everything we do starts and ends with children,” she stressed.
While noting that BIRD-Lab Nigeria is expected to bring together brilliant minds from fields such as medicine, psychology, sociology, nutrition, and communication, the UNICEF chief, who spoke virtually, explained that the collaboration and innovation would lead to evidence-based research that will provide direction for government policies and programmes towards children’s total well-being, regardless of their backgrounds.
She added, “The research hub — which will combine virtual and physical interfacing for researchers — would equally allow us to ask the right questions, get better understanding, and then co-create with the children and community to provide solutions that are child-centered.”
Ms. Saeed commended the Network for Behavioral Research on Child Survival in Nigeria (NETBRECSIN), which is coordinating the project, as well as the Federal Ministries of Health and Information and UNILAG for collectively hosting the first on-site BIRD-Lab in the country.
She said, “The collaboration is indeed an incredible commitment geared towards transforming the collective work to ensure children survive and thrive in life.
“So, in UNICEF, we are excited about this move and totally committed to it. The graduate students across tertiary institutions will be able to work on real-time programmatic challenges to contribute to solutions and at the same time pursue their careers.
“For us in UNICEF, we believe strongly that investing in children is investing in the country and in the nation’s future and prosperity, and it is our collective responsibility,” Saeed concluded.
In her remarks, the Deputy Country Representative, UNICEF Nigeria, Rownak Khan, who was physically present at the launch, said BIRD-Lab is dear to the heart of UNICEF because of its expected impact, especially on children and women.
She underscored its significance, noting that the research hub would enable both experts and young students to conduct research on social issues related to health, nutrition, water, sanitation, education, and more.
“We want to know why people actually behave in a certain way, and why the programmes that are being put up by government and also by the development partners are not 100% successful in some cases despite all the effort and huge resources put into them,” she pointed out.
“So, the research hub will help us to understand the community perception, community understanding, their behavioural motivation and that will actually allow the policy makers and practitioners to make adjustments in the programming towards children.
She added that having no fewer than 19 universities already on board, with many more expected, is a great joy to UNICEF.
In her address, the Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, represented by her deputy in charge of Development Services, Prof. Afolabi Lesi, expressed confidence in the project’s success, citing three key reasons.
According to her, the project will succeed not only because it is multidisciplinary — bringing sociologists, psychologists, physicians, and other experts together — but also because it has a national outlook and government involvement.
The Vice-Chancellor promised the university’s commitment to the project by supporting it with resources at its disposal.
In his opening remarks, a former Chief Medical Director of LUTH, Prof. Akin Osibogun, who chaired the event, expressed delight at the establishment of the research hub in Nigeria, saying it would greatly help in stemming the high maternal and child mortality rate in the country and across Africa.
He lamented that while developed countries have steadily reduced maternal and child mortality rates to single digits, the case of African countries, including Nigeria, remains a huge burden.
He said that was why any initiative capable of changing the narrative and substantially reducing child and maternal deaths to the barest minimum should be embraced and supported.
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According to him, people’s behaviour is a strong factor behind the crisis, hence the focus of the research hub on behaviour is in the right direction.
Shedding more light on the project, UNICEF’s Chief of Social Behaviour Change, Kshitij Joshi, described BIRD-Lab as more than a facility, but an approach uniting universities, civil society, media, and the private sector to understand behaviours.
According to him, the platform brings diverse expertise to address challenges from health to education and sanitation, focusing on behavioural science-driven solutions.
Joshi noted that student-generated data is being reviewed by professors, shaped into policy briefs, and used by government agencies to strengthen interventions.
He added that the Federal Ministry of Health had dedicated space for integrating BIRD-Lab findings into national policies, aligning services with people’s realities for greater impact.
He said the launch was just the beginning, as more BIRD-Labs are expected to spring up later in other universities across the country.
