Babafunke Fagbemi has had over 29 years of an illustrious career, developing and managing Social Behaviour Change initiatives for health and social development.
As the pioneer Executive Director of the Centre for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI), for the past 15 years, Babafunke provides leadership and oversight for malaria, family planning, WASH, nutrition, disease epidemics, ending violence against children and women, NTDs, peace and conflict resolution, good governance and anti-corruption. With her at the helm, CCSI has grown from a small team to a fully functional multidisciplinary SBC team of over 300 in its headquarters and in the field.
In addition to her primary role at CCSI, she further spearheads many capacity-building initiatives and is well known for her role in building the capacity of over 500 communication practitioners through the annual Leadership in Strategic Communications Workshop. The workshop, modelled after Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs Leadership workshops has become a cornerstone in CCSI's capacity-building mission and is a unique opportunity for health and development communication professionals in the continent and beyond.
Babafunke holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) degree (1989) of University of Ibadan, a Master of Communication Arts (M.C.A.) degree (2000) from the Communication and Language Arts Department of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan and, a Masters of Business Administration (2017) MBA from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Globally acclaimed as one of the leading lights in Africa on Social Behavior Change (SBC), she has dedicated the past decade to building the next generation of strategic communicators. Highly respected in the industry, she has led the provision of SBC support to government at national and subnational levels, playing critical leadership roles including support for risk communications during health outbreaks.
An entertainer at heart, she is resourceful and creative. Babafunke has Executive produced notable media projects, partnering with ‘A’ list celebrities from Nigeria’s Nollywood and music Industries to create campaigns for Childbirth spacing, Family planning, and Malaria advocacies. One such collaboration is the popular music video “Get it together” on family planning, an alliance with local music icons Paul of P Square and Tiwa Savage. To date “Get it together” has almost 7 million organic views on YouTube.
She has authored in various capacities contributing to the SBC body of knowledge. Recently, she was nominated as a Goalkeeper for the Bill and Melinda French Gates Foundation joining a global community of change makers working towards the attainment of sustainable development goals. She made the 2022 edition of Nigeria Women Annual:100 Leading Women and received the Wise Women Awards for the 2022 Christian Woman in Leadership Award.
Having raised 3 creative-inclined children, Babafunke has a passion for working with children, devoting 35 years to date serving as a Sunday School Teacher. She currently heads a very vibrant children’s church unit in a renowned Pentecostal Church in Nigeria.
She is passionate about making a difference where it matters most!
Her hobbies include music, badminton, and photography.