Board of Trustees

Ifeoma M Garba (Chairperson)

Ms. Ifeoma M Garba is a certified gender auditor and results-based management practitioner with a master's degree in public policy and management from the University of York in the United Kingdom. She has over twenty-two years of professional experience in the private, development, and humanitarian sectors. She has extensive experience managing national, regional, and international projects and programmes.

She has led various national and international gender, development, and humanitarian committees. She is an active gender equality activist and a strong women empowerment advocate. She is the Head of the Gender & Gender Results Network Coordinator at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Nigeria office.

Uchenna Idoko (Secretary)

Uchenna is a results-centered gender economist with deep and broad experience in strategy development, designing, managing, and evaluating programs seeking to find better, more integrated ways to empower girls and women’s economics. Her technical expertise includes gender economics rights and justice; economic empowerment; mitigating the impacts of and preventing feminized poverty; prevention and response to the gender gap, especially in the social sectors; voice and agency; public policy and advocacy strategies, applied research; stakeholder engagement; community mobilization; and fundraising & management.

She has supported different stakeholders: government, legislators, private sector actors, civil society organizations, international organizations, and community members in her thematic area of work. She has provided technical expertise on different projects and programs in Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ghana, primarily to promote gender mainstreaming and economic inclusion. She has authored numerous research reports, training toolkits, conference papers, articles, and national policy reports. A community needs assessment guide, and recently a book 'Land for Her: Nigeria Women, Land Rights, and Livelihoods. Uchenna holds a Bachelor’s degree of Science (Honors) in Economics and two Master’s degrees: Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Economics and Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Political Economy and Development Studies.

Dr. Magdalena Perdjon-Abel (Member)

Magdalena Perdjon-Abel, Ph.D., is an executive director at Octopol Nig. Ltd. She has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Southampton, a postgraduate diploma in Family Business Administration from the Warsaw University of Technology School of Business, and a diploma from the European Academy of Diplomacy.

She is interested in poverty alleviation using job creation and sustainability through the responsible use and replication of natural resources.

Dr. Anna Madziga (Member)

Anna Madziga is a development consultant interested in women’s and girls’ issues. She has twenty-five years of experience working on gender issues, women's rights, economic empowerment, girls’ education, and adolescent rights. She has participated in several UN and other international Conferences and meetings that deal with gender issues, women’s rights, girls’ rights, and conflict resolutions.

Anna Barka Madziga has a Doctoral degree in Political Economy and Development Studies from the University of Abuja. She also holds a Master’s Degree in the same field from the same University and a first degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Maiduguri. Anna has conducted research such as baseline studies, end-of-project evaluations, and mapping exercises for various organizations within and outside Nigeria. She has presented multiple papers on women and girls topical issues at different fora. She lives her life working to improve the lives of women and girls in the communities.

Oluwatoni Modupe Adeleke (Member)

Oluwatoni Adeleke is the CEO and founder of Olive Community Development Initiatives (OCDI), a non-governmental organization that provides social services to women, girls, and youths in Kwara State, Nigeria.

She has over 15 years of experience in the social development sector while volunteering and working with different local and international organizations. She has a master’s degree in social work and currently running a Ph.D. program in social work with Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.

Oluwatoni is the Vice President of the Africa region of the international federation of social workers (IFSW).

Uju Obiora (Member)

Uju Obiora holds a Master’s Degree in International Law and Diplomacy and a Bachelor of Arts in English. She is a Program Manager with Participatory Partnerships for Community Development (PPCD), a Chevron-funded project based in Delta State, Nigeria. She has over 15 years of experience in gender and development work at program management and grant-making levels. Before joining the PPCD team, she was with the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Nigeria office for five years as Program Manager (Women’s Rights) and has worked with other local NGOs on full-time and Consultancy bases.

She has published books on gender and women’s rights-related issues, including The Women’s Convention in Nigeria and Women & the Rights to Inheritance in Nigeria. She has contributed chapters to the Nigeria NGOs Shadow Reports to the UN CEDAW Committee. Uju has contributed to the global discourse on women and gender issues by participating in several UN meetings and other international conferences on women’s rights, human rights & gender issues.