Aanu Popoola is a social worker and specialist support coordinator working with vulnerable populations especially those living with disabilities and survivors of sexual and gender based violence. To improve developmental outcomes for survivors of violence and remove systemic barriers, she builds the capacity and connect survivors and people with disabilities with all the resources they need to achieve their goals. In addition to her focus on survivors of GBV and disability sector, she provides social care in clinical and aged settings. This broadened her scope of working with diverse population groups.
Aanu values family, relationship and trust as critical pillars vital to her practice while leveraging systemic approach in her case analysis. Her interest in social work, human rights, gender equality and advocacy are linked to her early career in GBV, domestic and family violence as well as girl-child advocacy. Previously, she has volunteered for several programs targeting women’s’ empowerment, such as Social Good Lagos (Mom’s community). Her dedication to social action earned her the Young Africa Leadership Initiative fellowship for West Africa in 2018.
Through VoiceIT, she seeks to explore more mental health and trauma-informed and technology approaches in meeting the immediate and emerging needs of growing young people and adult with a history of mental health abuse and family violence.
Aanu recently graduated from Griffith University, Australia earning a Master of Social Work. She also holds a Master of Public Health degree in Population and Reproductive Health education from University of Ibadan where she completed a dissertation on “Domestic violence among married couples in Oyo state.“