UNESCO REF acts under a mandate that runs from the General Conference of UNESCO in Paris to the institution in Abuja. The Read and Earn Federation for UNESCO (UNESCO REF) is a multidimensional and multisectoral development institution, established in 2009 under the UNESCO Provisions Framework in Nigeria. It was constituted through the National Commission for UNESCO under the authority of the 13th Session of the UNESCO General Conference, Paris, 1964.
Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan is the President of UNESCO REF. A scientist, statesman and Long Standing Fellow of the United Kingdom Association of Business Executives (UK-LS.FABE), he is a recipient of the Sonic Foundry Legacy Award of the United States. He directs UNESCO REF and its flagship programme, SIP-ALPHA, and anchors his leadership in three principles: Bravery, Loyalty and Truth. In 2022 he led UNESCO REF into a partnership with the Global Learning Exchange of Sonic Foundry, Inc. under The August Project (TAP).
The Director-General, the Permanent Delegate and the Secretary General are presented in their official capacities, as holders of the offices through which UNESCO REF's mandate is constituted; the direction of the institution rests with its President.
The Presidency sets strategy and holds custody of the mandate. The SIP-ALPHA programme office sets standards across fifteen pillars. The Lichfield Partners and Associates is UNESCO REF's lead partner on SIP-ALPHA. Programmes and networks including TAP, Young Women in Agriculture, the VOICE Initiative and NEPAD_EY carry the mandate into communities, guided by SDG 17, partnerships for the goals.
A conceptual paper on how authority is constituted and held to account in the UNESCO system and what that implies for leadership in an intermediary institution acting under a UNESCO-derived mandate. It integrates Weber, organisational legitimacy theory, principal-agent and orchestration theory and the theory of accountability, applies them to Article VII of the UNESCO Constitution and the 1978 Charter of National Commissions, and proposes clarity, fidelity, reciprocity and evidence as standards of leadership within a mandate.
A conceptual paper developing a theory of leadership for an African institution with a global mandate. Drawing on Selznick, Burns, Greenleaf and Heifetz, the extended mind thesis and research on distributed cognition, African political sociology and the history of Oyo, Ubuntu and relational leadership, and stewardship theory, it proposes the concept of the extended institution and specifies bravery, loyalty and truth as institutional virtues.
Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan is the President of UNESCO REF, the Read and Earn Federation for UNESCO. A scientist, statesman and Long Standing Fellow of the United Kingdom Association of Business Executives (UK-LS.FABE), he is a recipient of the Sonic Foundry Legacy Award of the United States and directs the institution's flagship programme, SIP-ALPHA.
UNESCO REF, the Read and Earn Federation for UNESCO, is a multidimensional and multisectoral development institution established in 2009 under the UNESCO Provisions Framework in Nigeria, with its headquarters in Abuja. It works across education, science, culture and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
UNESCO REF was constituted through the Nigerian National Commission for UNESCO under the authority of the 13th Session of the UNESCO General Conference, Paris, 1964.
SIP-ALPHA, the Strategic Intervention Programme for Accelerated Learning and Productive Human Asset, is the flagship programme of UNESCO REF, established in Abuja in 2022. It comprises fifteen integrated pillars of national development aligned with all seventeen Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union's Agenda 2063.
The Lichfield Partners and Associates is UNESCO REF's lead partner on SIP-ALPHA.
Prof. Khaled El-Enany of Egypt is the 12th Director-General of UNESCO. He was elected by the 43rd General Conference in Samarkand in November 2025 and took office on 15 November 2025.
H.E. Dr. Hajo Sani, OON, has served as Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Nigeria to UNESCO in Paris since 2021.
Two conceptual papers published by UNESCO REF in 2026. Paper No. 1, Mandate and legitimacy, examines authority, delegation and accountability in the UNESCO system. Paper No. 2, Stewardship and the extended institution, develops a theory of leadership for an African institution with a global mandate.
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