Dear SOPHIA,
Receiving the SOPHIA bursary was a turning point for me. As a practitioner from Mali, where P4C is still very new, being recognised by a European network gave me confidence and legitimacy. Through the bursary, I was able to attend the Sophia Network Meeting online and connect with several members of the network. Emma Leeson, my Level 1 trainer at Thoughtful (formerly SAPERE), has been a mentor and recommended my work. Mary Bovill, a Sophia board member, shared her lecture and a poem with me, and our exchange on philosophy as a practice of liberation deeply inspired my Arbre à Palabre project. Grace Lockrobin, Co-Director of Thoughtful, who announced the bursary on Sophia’s behalf, and Joana Rita Sousa, with whom I discussed the visibility of African approaches, have also been part of this journey. And Paulien Hilbrink, a Sophia member from the Netherlands, generously supported my travel to the BIPSEFA 2026 conference in Tunis, where I will present my project.
Since the bursary, the ripple effect has been extraordinary. I completed my Thoughtful (SAPERE) Level 1 certification and was later awarded the Thoughtful Bronze Fellowship. I was accepted to present at BIPSEFA 2026, and I have run the first workshops with vulnerable children in Ségou. I translated educational resources for Wonder Ponder into French, and I am in conversation with researchers at Laval University in Quebec. The bursary also strengthened my existing partnerships: Big Thinkers in Mexico continues to support me institutionally. I am also in contact with Professor Edwige Chirouter, holder of the UNESCO Chair on the practice of philosophy with children, and I have begun exchanges with Professor Arie Kizel of the Mediterranean Association for Philosophy with Children and with researcher John Bhurekeni, whose work on the Afrophilic approach to P4C directly inspires my project.
The SOPHIA bursary was not just a financial help – it was a signal that my work matters.
It gave me the confidence to knock on doors I would not have dared to approach before, and it created connections I could not have imagined. I am deeply grateful.
Youbahadi Koné
Bronze Thoughtful Fellow | SOPHIA Member | Certified INSSA
Arbre à Palabre – Ségou, Mali