In a country where an estimated 57.2 million individuals are aged 10 to 24, providing accurate and accessible Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) is critical. UNFPA Nigeria is proud to support SoftLife247, an online platform successfully empowering Nigerian adolescents and young people with essential knowledge on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), life skills, and overall well-being.

Launched in 2024, SoftLife247 is a dynamic platform designed to foster healthy practices and informed decision-making among youth. The platform directly supports bodily autonomy by reinforcing SRHR and life skills knowledge in a judgment-free environment, empowering users to make confident personal choices.

A key feature is the self-paced online learning platform, which champions the right to education by providing accessible comprehensive sexual education (CSE) through engaging tracks, videos, and quizzes, accessible via desktop or mobile. The platform's gamification, including rewards and certification, reinforces this knowledge, encouraging young people to apply site-learned concepts in real-world settings through peer education and outreach efforts.

Progress and Impact

The platform’s strategic digital outreach has yielded significant results, including a growing user base of 1,022 active users and over 47,000 website views/visits since January 2025. This success is partly driven by a consistent and compelling social media campaign across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, which generated over 303,000 impressions with an average engagement rate of around 7%, contributing to a 50% boost in overall website traffic. Furthermore, the platform is continuously maintained and optimized for an optimal user experience, including routine software updates, security measures, and speed optimization for fast load times, particularly on mobile devices.

Most importantly, the true measure of SoftLife247’s success lies in the lives it transforms.

Damilare’s Journey: From Indecision to Value-Based Confidence

Damilare, a 17-year-old facing intense peer pressure, credits SoftLife247 with helping him make life-changing decisions. Before finding the platform, he recalls, "I listened to everybody’s opinion and they knew about every decision I was planning to make."

After exploring the courses, he gained the clarity to make better life choices, including on family planning and SRHR. “Since I found SoftLife247, I've gained not only the decisiveness and value-based criteria... but also the confidence to stand by my decisions and not be swayed by the comments of people around me.”

Aisha’s Journey: From Uncertainty to Advocacy

For 20-year-old Aisha, who discovered the site through an AfriYAN Nigeria social media post, SoftLife247 provided critical, accessible information on topics like myth-busting, life skills, STI prevention, and mental health. She found the mobile-friendly format and quiz-based rewards motivating and “judgment-free.”

Today, Aisha credits SoftLife247 with empowering her to stay in school and pursue her education, protecting her from the risks of child marriage or early pregnancy. She is currently studying public health and advocates full-time, using the knowledge she gained. “It gave me knowledge for informed choices and courage to help others,” she states, demonstrating how the platform is not only educating youth but actively nurturing the next generation of SRHR advocates in Nigeria.

From Hackathon to Lifeline: 5 Lessons in Digital Maternal Health from Togo

Every day in Togo, three families are shattered by a mother's death from complications in pregnancy or childbirth. It’s a preventable tragedy, fueled by a simple but dangerous gap: many women, after their first prenatal visit, don't make it to the subsequent appointments that could save their lives. In fact, only 35% complete the crucial fourth consultation.

In an age of constant innovation, this raises a crucial question: How can technology bridge this gap to ensure mothers and babies receive the consistent follow-up they need to survive and thrive? The answer may lie in a groundbreaking digital solution developed by the Association AV-Jeunes.

Born from a local hackathon, the eConvivial CPN application is software designed to connect, remind, and support women throughout their maternal health journey. Developed with initial support from other UN agencies for its first pilot, and later crucial backing from UNFPA for its expansion and refinement, its journey offers powerful, practical lessons for how to build digital health initiatives that truly work for the communities they serve.

Lesson 1: Meet People Where They Are, Beyond the Smartphone

When people hear "digital health," they often picture a smartphone app. The creators of eConvivial CPN however, understood that in a context with varying digital literacy, high data costs, and a mix of smartphone and basic feature phone ownership, true accessibility requires a much broader approach. To reach every woman, they built a platform that operates across multiple channels.

Users can access the platform's services through:

• An Android mobile app available on the Google Play Store for those with smartphones.
• A WhatsApp Chatbot that provides instant access to services through a familiar messaging application.
• An SMS-based system for users with basic feature phones.
• Automated voice calls for appointment reminders, ensuring even those with low literacy can receive critical information.
• A free toll-free hotline (8203) accessible from any GSM phone, even without an internet connection or call credit, allowing women to call directly to receive information, guidance, and personalized support.

This multi-channel strategy is a cornerstone of the project's success. It acknowledges the reality on the ground and meets women on the platforms they already use and are comfortable with, ensuring that technology serves as a bridge, not a barrier, to essential healthcare.

Lesson 2: Communicate in the Language of Care

For health communication to be effective, it must be delivered in a language the user understands and trusts. The eConvivial CPN project embedded this principle directly into its design. The automated voice reminders for prenatal consultations were not just sent in French, the official language, but were also recorded and made available in two major local languages: Ewé and Kabyiè which increases outreach and community acceptance

Beyond simple reminders, these messages included practical, timely advice tailored to each stage of pregnancy. This thoughtful feature demonstrates a deep respect for the local context and a commitment to inclusive health communication that empowers women with knowledge in their native tongue.

Lesson 3: Build on a Foundation of Trust

In a brilliantly counter-intuitive decision that put trust ahead of tech, beneficiaries of eConvivial CPN cannot create their own accounts. Instead, a woman must be enrolled in the system by an accredited healthcare provider, such as a midwife, at one of the partner health facilities. This simple step links the user directly to the formal health system from the very beginning.

This provider-led model was a strategic choice to ensure quality and adoption. It immediately legitimizes the app, prevents it from becoming a source of unverified health information, and anchors digital innovation firmly within the established, trusted public health infrastructure. To support this system, healthcare providers and administrators from the five pilot maternity wards participated in capacity-building workshops and were equipped with tablets and internet SIM cards, ensuring they had the tools and training needed to effectively manage the platform.

Lesson 4: Digitize the Reminder, Not the Relationship

At its core, the platform automates one of the most critical and often overlooked aspects of maternal care: appointment reminders. The system schedules automated calls for crucial prenatal care (CPN) visits, infant vaccinations, and family planning (PF) follow-ups. A robot places a call to the beneficiary 48 hours before a scheduled appointment and will make several follow-up attempts if the initial call fails.

However, the technology was designed to connect, not replace, human care providers. A key feature is the 'Assistance en Ligne' (Online Assistance) service, which allows women to chat directly with a dedicated team of midwives. This gives them a confidential and accessible way to ask sensitive questions, voice concerns, and receive professional advice without having to travel to a clinic.

Our technology doesn't replace healthcare workers; it amplifies their efforts eConvivial CPN is designed to be a digital partner for Togo's midwives, automating reminders to bring women back into care and offering a direct line for support, 7 days a week.

Lesson 5: Prove the Concept, Then Prepare to Scale

The initial implementation phase across five pilot maternity wards yielded encouraging results and valuable insights. As of October 2025, the platform had successfully enrolled over 300,000 women and children into critical care programs.

The project also faced real-world challenges, including intermittent internet connectivity at some health facilities and the need for ongoing technical support for both providers and beneficiaries. Despite these hurdles, the model proved its potential for growth. The underlying technology and approach were expanded into the broader eConvivial digital ecosystem. This larger platform, focused on sexual and reproductive health for young people, demonstrates remarkable scalability. For instance, in December 2023 alone, it reached a total of 469,834 cases on topics ranging from contraception to HIV prevention, proving the core concept could be adapted to serve a much wider public health mission.

Conclusion: A Model for the Future

The success of the eConvivial CPN project lies in its masterful blend of innovative technology with a deep, on-the-ground understanding of community needs. It is a testament to the idea that the best digital solutions are not just about code and servers; they are about people, accessibility, and trust.

The journey of eConvivial CPN from a hackathon concept to a vital health lifeline in Togo offers a clear blueprint for others to follow. It leaves us with a critical question to guide the future of global health: As digital tools become more common, how can we ensure that future health solutions are built with this same focus on accessibility, human connection, and local context?