About – Niward

Professor Stella Williams

NiWARD Founder

Our Story

NiWARD has over 200 African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) fellows, mentors and mentees from the six regions of Nigeria. The association has also attracted membership of more than 100 other agricultural scientists in Nigeria.

NiWARD is filling the gaps between research and development in the Nigerian agricultural sector. The association does this by carrying out outreach programs to disseminate new and improved innovations through researches in the agricultural sector to farmers’ networks, fostering peer to peer knowledge transfer and ensuring the implementation of targeted empowerment policies.

Our members carry out research and implement projects to transform Nigeria’s agricultural sector most especially in the small scale agricultural sector.

Our Vision

NiWARD aims to be a leading science association advocating, mentoring, training and empowering farmers to achieve sustainable development in Africa and beyond.

NIWARD Goals:

Our primary objectives are principally to reduce hunger and poverty in rural farming communities in Nigeria (national) and on the continent of Africa.
We work to empower and promote gender inclusive research and activities in all sectors of agriculture and science.
Skills gained by fellows, mentos and mentees of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) are used to propagate scientific research nationally and across the continent.
Transfer of skills to female scientists who have expressed interest in joining the association by a mentoring approach.
Establishment of state chapters of NiWARD where qualified individuals come together to achieve the goals of AWARD and also assisting the less privileged and vulnerable/disabled in the society.
Interaction with other organizations in collaboration and/or partnerships on issues of mutual interests.
Organizing Annual General Meetings and Conferences in different geopolitical zones of the country as decided by the association.
Render voluntary services to members in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
Encourage and maintain a common relationship anchored on mutual respect.
Encourage and explore cooperation with organizations with similar aims and objectives within and outside the territory of Nigeria.
Dissemination of information to transform agricultural research and empower economic growth of agricultural resources at country and continent levels.

Action plan for mission statement:

We ultimately plan to accomplish our goals by:

Promoting capacity building through training in scientific research with rural communities nationally to enhance agricultural productivity, livelihoods and farmers’ income as well as competitiveness along the commodity value chains;
Promoting gender equality in science and technology for agricultural empowerment and innovation for women and youths nationally;
Contributing to rural development, poverty reduction, food security and sustainable use of agricultural resources in Nigeria;
Partnering with the Federal and the state governments to support farmers at the grassroots level to grow their farming businesses by facilitating access to technology and financial support systems;
Engaging with our leaders at local levels (obas, chiefs, community leaders and decision makers);
Train them on gender-related issues in order to gain their support for gender and youth development which will result in national economic growth and wealth creation.

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"NiWARD is a pathfinder, booster and establisher especially in agricultural research for development. It is a one stop shop on all agricultural matters. "