For over two decades, Arome Salifu, founder and executive director of the Africa Youth Growth Foundation (AYGF), has led community-driven development interventions across Nigeria. From restoring children to classrooms to delivering millions of nutrition services, empowering rural women farmers, and strengthening food systems, his foundation’s footprint spans health, agriculture, climate resilience, migration and governance. In this interview with LYDIA ENYIDIYA EKE, he spoke on women’s economic power, food security, and why sustainable development must begin at the grassroots. Excerpts:
What inspired the creation of AYGF and what problem were you trying to solve?
AYGF was founded in 2003 out of a simple conviction that communities must not be spectators in their own development. I saw youth potential being wasted, women excluded from economic structures, and children denied education because of poverty. We therefore, started as a grassroots initiative, but our vision was always systemic, which is to address root causes, not just symptoms.
What has this achieved?
Today, that philosophy guides all our programmes, from education to food systems and public health.
AYGF has had significant impact on nutrition and public health. How does this connect to women and families?
Nutrition is deeply gendered. In most Nigerian households, women are responsible for food preparation, childcare and family health decisions. When a mother lacks nutritional knowledge or access to services, the entire household suffers.
Through large-scale nutrition interventions, including World Bank–supported projects, AYGF has delivered millions of essential nutrition services to pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children under five.
What else?
We focus on maternal nutrition education, micronutrient supplementation, and community health mobilisation. When you improve a woman’s health literacy, you improve generational outcomes.
Beyond nutrition, how does AYGF support women economically?
Women are central to agriculture and food systems in Nigeria, yet they often lack access to land, finance, training, and markets. Our agricultural and livelihood programmes however, prioritise women farmers and women-led cooperatives.
How do you go about all these?
We support them with skills development in climate-smart agriculture, access to improved farming techniques, linkages to markets, financial literacy and enterprise support When women farmers become more productive and profitable, food availability increases, household incomes improve, and rural poverty declines. Empowering women in agriculture is not just a social welfare; it is economic strategy.
Food security remains a national concern. What role does AYGF play in strengthening food systems?
Food security goes beyond production. It involves access, affordability, nutrition quality, and sustainability. AYGF integrates agriculture with nutrition outcomes.
Do you have strategic examples?
For instance, we encourage household-level food diversification , not just staple crops, but nutrient-rich foods that improve child growth.
We also promote climate resilience, since we know that erratic rainfall and environmental degradation threaten smallholder farmers. Through tree-planting campaigns and environmental education, we encourage sustainable land practices. A secure food system must be climate-conscious and community-owned.
How do these agricultural and nutrition interventions translate into measurable impact?
Impact must be tangible. Across multiple states, we have reached millions of women and children with nutrition services, strengthened community-based health systems, supported vulnerable households with food and livelihood interventions, improved awareness of maternal and child nutrition practices. We measure progress not just in numbers served, but in behavioural change like healthier feeding practices, improved agricultural productivity, and stronger women-led enterprises.
Many development efforts overlook rural women. Why do you insist on centering them?
Because data and experience both show that women reinvest more in their families and communities.
When a woman’s income increases, children stay in school longer. Nutrition improves. Healthcare access improves. Community cohesion strengthens.
If Nigeria wants sustainable development, we must remove structural barriers limiting women’s economic participation, particularly in agriculture and food value chains.
AYGF also works with youth. How do youth empowerment and agriculture intersect?
Agriculture must become attractive to young people. We cannot have an aging farming population while youth unemployment rises. We support youth agripreneurship, encouraging modern farming, agro-processing, and value addition. With innovation, agriculture can become a viable business, not a last resort. Food security and youth employment are interconnected challenges.
Climate change is increasingly affecting farmers. What is AYGF doing in this area?
Climate change greatly affects women farmers who depend on small-scale agriculture. We integrate environmental sustainability into our programmes. Our tree-planting and environmental restoration campaigns promote soil protection and long-term agricultural viability. We also educate communities on adaptive practices to mitigate climate risks.
You cannot separate food security from environmental stewardship.
What leadership philosophy guides your work across all these sectors?
Leadership must be service driven and evidence based. We prioritise accountability, partnerships, and measurable outcomes. Development is not about visibility. It is about systems that continue working even when you are not present.
Looking ahead, what is your vision for AYGF?
We aim to deepen our impact on: Women’s economic empowerment; Nutrition and maternal health; Climate-resilient agriculture; Youth-led agribusiness; Education access, but more importantly, we aim to strengthen community ownership. Development must not be donor-dependent but locally sustained.
What is your message to policymakers?
Invest intentionally in women. Strengthen food systems. Support smallholder farmers. Prioritise maternal and child nutrition. When you empower a woman, you secure a nation. When you strengthen food systems, you stabilise an economy. When you invest in youth, you protect the future. Sustainable development is possible, but only if it is inclusive.
About Africa Youth Growth Foundation (AYGF)
It is founded in 2003 as a Nigerian non-profit organisation working across women’s empowerment and agricultural livelihoods, food security and climate resilience, public health and nutrition, education and youth development, migration and community reintegration. With a strong grassroots presence and national partnerships, AYGF continues to drive inclusive, measurable, and sustainable development across Nigeria.
