Biography
Hajia Dr. Salamatu Garba
Founder/ Executive Director-Women Farmers Advancement Network- WOFAN
Phone: +2348093861739
Email: salamatugarba@wofan.org
Hajia Salamatu Garba is a distinguished Nigerian community development practitioner and academic. She holds a B.Sc. in Botany and an M.Sc. in Plant Pathology from Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria, along with a Gender Trainers and Development Post Graduate Certificate from the University of Wolverhampton, UK.
She founded the Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) in 1993 while lecturing at ABU Zaria and Bayero University, Kano. Hajia Salamatu’s extensive qualifications and leadership have greatly contributed to community development initiatives across Africa, particularly in empowering women farmers and promoting sustainable agriculture. Her work continues to inspire positive change and socio-economic growth in the region.
WOFAN was formed as a response to the plight of the rural women in Northern Nigeria, as people who are voiceless, poor, and dependent on poor resources using local/ indigenous technology.
The low literacy level and lack of awareness on many socio- economic issues of the rural women was also the bedrock for the establishment of WOFAN and interest in rural development! –
WOFAN’s aim is to improve and promote the economic, social, and political empowerment of rural women and youths to transform agriculture into business and develop positive linkages across all the agricultural value chains including access to finance and technical know -how. WOFAN over the years has supported thousands of households scale up and diversify their income, constructed and supported hundreds of water and sanitation facilities in schools and Islamiyah centers across Northern Nigeria to support rural access to safe drinking water as well as education and improved livelihood of the girl-child and women empowerment (www.wofan.org).
Hajia Salamatu has served at various consultancy capacity with organizations such as OXFAM, British Council, IDRC Canada, IFAD projects, The World Bank, Wilton Park- UK, women for water partnership-Netherlands United Nations- Peace and Livelihood project (UN-POLAC) in addition to the under listed: