amb. Nkoyo Toyo

Nkoyo Toyo is a Nigerian civil rights activist and governance adviser.  In 1991, she founded Gender and Development Action (GADA) in Nigeria. With the return of civil governance to Nigeria in 1999, she became more involved with politics and government. During that time and now, she worked intensively to build negotiations between agitators in the troubled Niger Delta Region of Nigeria and the central government.

Nkoyo’s interest in politics resulted in her appointment in 2008 as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and Djibouti as well as the country’s Permanent Representative to the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa. In 2011, she was elected into the Nigerian parliament, as a member of the National House of Representatives. In parliament, she championed the issues of social development and social investment.

Nkoyo has held several international positions including being a Member of the Civil Society Advisory Committee of the Commonwealth Foundation, the Chair of the Board of Directors of Montreal International Forum, Member of Board of Trustees of Institute of Development Studies and Member of the Board of Trustees Oxfam international.

Dr Eka williams

Dr Eka Williams has over twenty-five years of experience working at national, regional and continental levels facilitating, managing and supporting several significant initiatives and partnerships for organizations like Ford Foundation, USAID and Population Council. She has extensive experience and expertise in research, program development, management and implementation; assessment and documentation and grant-making in SRHR, HIV, LGBTI, sex work, youth development, leadership and institutional strengthening. 

She also has a wide range of experience in mentoring and providing technical support to national and regional NGOs and institutions to strengthen organizational and program-related capacity, leadership and governance. Expertise in strategy development, program management, monitoring and evaluation and documentation; and application of program lessons and research for policy formulation, program design, scale-up and to improve service delivery.

susan bassey duke

ada agina-Ude

Ada Agina-Ude is a retired journalist with 20+ years of experience in journalism working with the federal ministry of information and culture, a gender development expert with 20 years of experience working with the Gender And Development Action (GADA).  

Ada Agina-Ude has consulted for various organisations including Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, UNESCO, UNIFEM, Action Aid, CIDA, ODI, UNDP, UNICEF, TMG, WARDC, CDD and DFID. Her core areas of focus include training on gender and development, research and publications, gender mainstreaming, gender budgeting, lobbying, advocacy and social mobilisation. She has contributed to boosting women’s rights advocacy in Nigeria through project design and implementations and project-based publications including reports and research findings.