Pathfinder International, a global health and development organisation with more than 65 years of experience across Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East, has released a new Action Plan for Nigeria that sets out priorities for improving health and climate outcomes by placing women’s leadership at the core of the country’s development.
The Plan is an initiative from Women&Co, Pathfinder’s new women-led innovation platform for women to co-design and lead sustainable solutions that support national development and community resilience. Women&Co is a first mover in a sector redefining itself after a year defined by volatility in international development funding. Based on this Plan, Women&Co is incubating new solutions and business models for women to lead in Nigeria.
At the Nigeria launch, leading women experts and visionaries from across Nigerian society mapped a plan for what it will take for Nigerian women leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs to gain capital and power that drives health and climate resilience by 2040.
The goals for the work are to improve maternal health and life expectancy for all Nigerians, transform the healthcare system and enable Nigerians to afford healthy choices. It also targets increased community resilience and adaptation, clean energy and growth in women-led climate-smart entrepreneurship.
Some of the key goals the group will focus on include:
- Women’s innovation funding fuels the development of social enterprises with an active innovation ecosystem, fast-tracking country development
- State-level financing and county-level expertise to build rapidly adaptive systems, including resilient infrastructure, data forecasting and planning for health systems adaptation
- Women hold 35% of leadership roles in the health sector, with costed policies and community health workforce investment
- Passage and implementation of the Reserved Seats Bill to secure 111 federal and 108 state seats dedicated to women, advancing gender parity in governance
- Modernised community hubs to empower women with technology, tools and know-how to lead community resilience in climate and agriculture
- Recognise and reward caregiving as a key part of the care economy, with public spaces and enterprises providing childcare as a core part of infrastructure
This Plan is intended to guide future development by setting out the policies, systems and investments Nigerian leaders believe are needed to support long-term progress.
Participants and supporters included leaders from climate agencies, health systems, media and business, such as Rukayyat Muhammed of the National Council on Climate Change, Ijeoma Thomas-Odia of The Guardian Woman and Shuhdah Ahmed from the Office of the Vice President.
Dr Tabinda Sarosh, president and CEO of Pathfinder, said:
“The global development landscape has changed in ways that countries did not anticipate, but this is also an opportunity to shift the power to country-led innovation versus the old spiral of responding to foreign donor agendas. Women are half of the world’s population, and no country can develop without them also pushing progress. It was time for a change in our sector.
More than 25% of the world’s maternal deaths happen to a Nigerian woman. Nigeria is the 6th least prepared country for climate change. And Nigeria is 181 of 193 on the Gender Equality Index. The people carrying the consequences deserve to be the ones shaping what happens next.”
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Women’s Health Adanna Steinacker affirmed that the initiative aligns closely with Nigeria’s national agenda to promote women’s health, equity, and leadership,
“The mission of Women&Co strongly resonates with our priorities, by building a community where women lead solutions across health, climate change, entrepreneurship, and governance, Women&Co embodies the kind of collaboration and creativity our nation needs to renew systems and unlock new possibilities.’’
The Nigerian launch follows the platform’s global unveiling at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025.
Since October, Women&Co is building its women-led communities and kicking off co-design in Nigeria, Pakistan and Egypt and has launched a women-led social enterprise in Kenya.
