Stay Close to the Work
Quarterly field updates. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Why We Exist

One child.
That is why we exist.

Children in a Relio Foundation BreakTunes session in a Lagos community school, with the Relio banner visible
BreakTunes session — Lagos community school
A Story from the Field

"Amina is seven. Last month, a Relio facilitator came to her community and showed a BreakTunes episode about body safety. Amina now had words to describe her own body, and the knowledge that it belonged to her. She told her mother what she had learned. Her mother cried."

Body safety knowledge is one of the most powerful protections a child can carry. Delivered through song and animation, it reaches children before harm does. That is the work.

"Quality education is not reserved for children whose parents can afford it."

Across Nigeria and West Africa, millions of children grow up without access to quality education, health knowledge, or child protection information. When it reaches them at all, it rarely speaks their language — visually, culturally, or emotionally.

Relio Foundation exists to change that. We produce animated films, music-driven content, community outreach campaigns, and storytelling programmes designed for the children and communities most at risk, with the same craft any premium studio brings to commercial work.

Because the child in a displacement community deserves a learning experience as good as any available anywhere — and someone to bring it directly to them.

Relio Foundation facilitator smiling with children during a BreakTunes TV screening in Lagos
Community session · Lagos
BreakTunes body safety episode playing on a community TV, showing the lyric: my body is so dear
BreakTunes · Body safety content
Relio Foundation facilitator in black Relio tee presenting at a community session with the foundation banner behind her
Facilitator · Community delivery
The BreakTunes title card displayed on a community TV screen during a Relio Foundation screening session
BreakTunes · Live screening
Community members watching BreakTunes animated content on a laptop during a Relio Foundation home outreach visit
Home outreach · Lagos
The Relio Foundation team gathered before a community deployment day, standing with the foundation banner
The Relio team · Deployment day
Our Mission

Education for every child.
Wherever they are.

Relio Foundation is a child education organisation. We work in communities where children are most at risk of growing up without the knowledge, safety, and skills they need — and we use animation, music, community outreach, and storytelling as our primary delivery tools.

Every programme we run is accountable to education outcomes: children who understand body safety, communities where health knowledge has shifted, learners who now have access to foundational literacy content. We measure what changes.

Our approach: go where formal education does not reach. Deliver learning in the forms children engage with. Measure what changes.

Learning Without Walls

Animation, music, and community delivery reach children regardless of literacy level, language, or access to formal schooling.

Rooted in Local Realities

Every piece we produce is developed with communities — in local languages, reflecting local contexts, featuring people who look like the audience.

Accountable by Design

We measure outcomes and work within established behaviour change frameworks. Partners and donors know what their investment achieves.

Partnership Before All Else

We design every programme with the organisations already doing this work on the ground — strengthening what exists, not competing with it.

Esosa Dare-Herald, Founder of Relio Foundation
Esosa Dare-Herald
Founder · Social Entrepreneur · Human-Centred Designer
A Note from the Founder
I started Relio because I kept seeing children who had been written off. Not by anyone malicious — simply by systems that assumed formal schooling would reach everyone. It does not. The children who need education most are often the ones furthest from a classroom. Relio Foundation is our answer to that gap.

After years in animation and creative production, I realised the same tools we used for commercial work could deliver education to children who had no other route to it. High quality content is not a luxury. For children in displacement settings and under resourced communities, it may be the only reliable learning they receive.

Relio Foundation is a commitment that every child deserves access to learning — not as a charitable afterthought, but as a right. We build programmes that are rigorous, evidence informed, and designed for the communities we serve. No child is outside the reach of a good education because no one thought it was worth the investment.

We are early. We are honest about that. But we are clear about where we are going — and we want partners, donors, and communities who believe as we do that stories are one of the most powerful tools we have for changing what happens next.

— Esosa Dare-Herald
What We Do

Our programmes.

Six education programmes — spanning animation, music, outreach, and field delivery. Each designed to be led by the community it serves and measured by what children learn, not just what is produced.

01
Flagship Programme
BreakTunes: Music for Children's Wellbeing

Our flagship education platform for children under 13. BreakTunes uses original animated songs and participatory sessions to teach body safety, emotional literacy, and life skills — through music that children learn from faster, retain longer, and seek out again on their own.

Music based recall consistently outperforms text and poster messaging in low literacy settings. Children engage with BreakTunes content repeatedly — deepening learning with every listen.
Children Under 13SELPsychosocial SupportTrauma Informed
Learn more →
02
Child Protection Narratives

Animated education content on child safety, body rights, and the prevention of abuse — developed with certified child protection specialists. Delivered through schools, community leaders, and safeguarding networks in a format children can engage with directly.

Animated delivery allows sensitive child protection topics to be addressed safely — without retraumatising children or requiring specialist facilitators at every screening.
Child SafetyGBV PreventionSafeguarding
Learn more →
03
Animated Health Communication

High-quality animated films on vaccination, nutrition, maternal health, hygiene, and disease prevention — produced for low literacy audiences and distributed through community screenings, health facilities, and NGO partner networks across Nigeria.

Visual storytelling consistently outperforms text-based health messaging in comprehension and behaviour change among low literacy adult and child audiences.
WASHImmunisationMaternal Health
Learn more →
04
Story Based Learning

Animated curriculum content for children in under resourced and emergency school settings. Foundational literacy, numeracy, and life skills taught through stories children choose to watch repeatedly — strengthening learning with every session.

Narrative driven content produces significantly stronger recall and comprehension than direct instruction in non formal education settings.
Early LearningEmergency EducationLiteracy
Learn more →
05
Community Screening Campaigns

Mobile and fixed venue screening programmes that bring creative health, safety, and educational content directly to communities — including offline capable formats for low-connectivity environments and inclusive delivery for people with disabilities.

A single animated film deployed via mobile screening can reach hundreds of community members across multiple sites from one production investment.
Mobile OutreachOffline ReadyInclusive
Learn more →
06
Creative Capacity Building

Training for local animators, filmmakers, and community media practitioners — building the long term ecosystem of African storytellers who can sustain this work beyond any single foundation or funding cycle.

Local production capacity reduces cost per content unit over time and ensures cultural accuracy that external production cannot replicate.
Animation TrainingLocal TalentEcosystem
Learn more →
Our Method

Why animation and outreach
work as education tools.

Universal Comprehension

Animation and film are understood regardless of literacy level. A person who cannot read can follow a well told visual story — making creative media uniquely effective in low literacy and multilingual communities.

Safe Access to Sensitive Topics

Child protection, sexual health, displacement, and trauma can be addressed through characters and narrative in ways that direct instruction cannot — without retraumatising communities or requiring specialist facilitators.

Superior Recall and Behaviour Change

Research across humanitarian programmes consistently shows narrative driven content produces stronger recall, emotional connection, and sustained behaviour change than poster or leaflet-based messaging.

Scale from a Single Investment

One animated film can screen in a displacement camp, play on a village projector, download to an offline tablet, or broadcast on local television — multiplying reach from a single production cost.

Children Choose to Watch It Again

Unlike instructional materials, well made animated content is content children seek out repeatedly — deepening retention with every viewing without additional facilitation or cost.

The Evidence Base
Creative media is one of the most evidence supported tools in humanitarian communication.

UNICEF, WHO, and Save the Children have published findings supporting animated and visual storytelling as a primary channel for behaviour change communication in low literacy and crisis affected settings.

Music based learning — as deployed through BreakTunes — is supported by decades of research in child development and education, consistently outperforming rote instruction for retention, engagement, and repeat self-directed learning.

We build every programme on this evidence base and contribute to it through our own field documentation and outcome reporting.

The children who most need quality education are exactly the children animation and music reach most effectively.
Where We Work

Grounded in real places.
Built for global impact.

Priority Region
Northern Nigeria and Conflict-Affected Communities

Northern Nigeria sits at a significant intersection of displacement, educational deficit, and limited health access. Our programmes focus on health communication, child protection, and story based learning delivered in Hausa and other local languages through community screenings and NGO partner networks.

Active
Programme development underway
Expanding Region
West Africa — Urban and Peri-Urban Communities

Across Lagos and other growing West African cities, large populations live in peri urban settlements with limited access to quality health information and educational content. We produce content that reflects these urban realities, reaching communities close to resources but practically excluded from them.

In Development
Partnerships being established
Future Mandate
Displaced and Crisis-Affected Populations Worldwide

Through institutional partnerships with international humanitarian organisations, our content and methods can travel beyond our direct operational footprint — serving displaced populations and people in prolonged crises wherever a partner's reach extends.

Planned
As partnerships grow
How We Work

From the ground up.
Every time.

Community Co-Design

Every programme begins with deep listening — understanding health beliefs, language preferences, and community gatekeepers before a single frame is produced.

Partner Integration

We embed our content within existing humanitarian and development programmes — working alongside established organisations rather than duplicating their efforts.

Production Excellence

Content is produced to broadcast quality by the Relio Studios team. Communities deserve the best — and quality determines whether content gets watched, shared, and remembered.

Monitored Delivery

We measure reach, comprehension, and behaviour change through pre- and post assessment tools — so every partner and donor knows exactly what was achieved.

Sustainability and Handover

We build local capacity so communities can continue running programmes independently. Our exit strategy is as deliberate as our entry.

Our Creative Partner
Why Relio Foundation and Relio Studios are connected — and why that matters.

Relio Foundation is the social arm of Relio Studios — a professional animation and storytelling production house with years of commercial production experience. The Foundation channels that creative capability into programmes serving the public good.

All production work commissioned by the Foundation through Relio Studios is contracted at market rates, fully documented, and disclosed in our financial reporting. The Foundation's board includes independent members with no financial interest in the Studios.

This means our programmes benefit from genuine production expertise — not good intentions with limited technical capacity.

We are not a well meaning startup learning animation. We are animators who decided to do something more urgent with the craft.
Our People

Who is accountable for this work.

Donors and partners deserve to know who is responsible for every programme, every decision, and every naira spent at Relio Foundation.

Esosa Dare-Herald, Founder and Creative Director of Relio Foundation
Founder
Esosa Dare-Herald
Founder · Social Entrepreneur · Human-Centred Designer

Esosa founded Relio Foundation from a conviction that quality education is a right, not a privilege — and that the most powerful delivery tools for reaching children in underserved communities are the ones children choose to engage with on their own.

Her background spans human-centred design, animation, and community development. She has worked across health, immunisation, and education programmes in Nigeria, and brings a design-led approach to every programme Relio Foundation runs: starting with the community, building for real behaviour, and measuring what actually changes.

Relio Foundation is the institutional expression of that practice — a structure built to ensure that creative and educational capacity is permanently pointed at the children who need it most.

Human-Centred Design Social Entrepreneurship Community Development Animation & Storytelling Child Education
We Are Building This Board

Relio Foundation is actively recruiting two independent board members. We are looking for people who bring specific expertise and a shared belief that education should reach every child.

Child Welfare & Humanitarian Programmes

Experience in child protection, humanitarian education, or social impact evaluation in West Africa or similar contexts.

Express Interest →
Finance, Governance & Compliance

Expertise in nonprofit finance, legal compliance, or organisational governance — ideally within the Nigerian or international NGO sector.

Express Interest →
Advisory and Operational Roles
Media & Communications
Position open — enquire
Partnerships Lead
Position open — enquire
Field Programme Coordinator
Position open — enquire
Get Involved
Bring your skills to the work.

We are looking for animators, educators, child protection specialists, community health workers, communications professionals, and fundraisers. If you believe in what we are building, we want to hear from you.

Apply to Volunteer →
Governance and Transparency

Built to earn trust.
Structured for accountability.

We are honest about where we are as an organisation. We are early-stage. We are building our governance infrastructure deliberately and transparently. Below is an accurate picture of where each element stands.

◯
Foundation Registration (Nigeria CAC)

Currently in active registration process with the Corporate Affairs Commission under CAMA 2020. Full SCUML compliance on completion.

◯
Independent Board of Directors

Board composition in development. We are actively recruiting independent members with expertise in child welfare, humanitarian operations, and finance.

◯
Annual Financial Reporting

Building towards independently audited annual accounts. Full financial transparency is maintained for all donors and partners through detailed programme level reporting on request.

✓
Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

A documented safeguarding framework is in place for all programme activities involving children — including vetting protocols, incident reporting, and a designated safeguarding lead.

✓
Conflict of Interest Disclosure

All transactions between Relio Foundation and Relio Studios are contracted at documented market rates and disclosed in full to donors and partners on request.

✓
Programme Level Donor Reporting

Every donor receives a detailed report covering how their contribution was used, what it reached, and what outcomes were documented — regardless of gift size.

Frequently Asked Questions

The questions we are most commonly asked by donors and partners — answered plainly.

Every contribution is tied to a specific programme or activity. Donors receive a written report documenting what their funds supported, how many people were reached, and what outcomes were observed. We do not pool donations without donor consent.
Relio Studios is a professional animation and production company. Relio Foundation is its social arm — a separate legal entity with its own governance, bank accounts, and reporting obligations. When the Foundation commissions production work, it contracts Relio Studios at documented market rates. This relationship is fully disclosed and managed through our conflict of interest policy.
We are currently in active registration with Nigeria's Corporate Affairs Commission under CAMA 2020. We will update this page as soon as registration is confirmed. We welcome conversations with potential partners and donors, and are transparent about our current status.
Yes. We are actively looking for people with skills in animation, film production, community health, child protection, communications, and fundraising. Send a short note about your background and interest to info@reliofoundation.org and we will be in touch.
Yes. We welcome in-kind contributions including equipment, software licenses, studio time, and professional services such as legal, accounting, and communications support. Please contact us to discuss.
Partner With Us

Partners in purpose.

We partner with organisations who understand that education delivered well is one of the most powerful long term interventions available — regardless of the format it arrives in.

International NGOs and UN Agencies

We work as a creative production partner for humanitarian organisations with programmes in Nigeria and West Africa — producing content that meets your MEAL frameworks, branding requirements, and community objectives. Engagements structured through MOUs with defined deliverables.

Discuss a Partnership
High Net Worth Individuals and Family Offices

For philanthropists who want their giving specific and connected to real outcomes — we offer named programme funds and direct relationships with the communities your support reaches. Your contribution is never anonymous here.

Explore Giving Options
Foundations and Grant Making Bodies

We welcome multi year programme funding from foundations focused on child welfare, education, health communication, or creative economy development in Africa. We produce full grant reports, logical frameworks, and evidence documentation to your specifications.

Request a Programme Brief
Our standard partnership instrument is an MOU with clearly defined deliverables, timelines, reporting obligations, and budget lines. We work within your organisation's preferred procurement and compliance framework.
Request Our Partnership Framework
Get In Touch

Let's talk about
who we can
reach together.

General Enquiries and Partnerships
info@reliofoundation.org
Base of Operations
Nigeria · Operating Globally
Press and Media
info@reliofoundation.org
Creative Production Partner
reliostudios.com