Olufunke ‘Funke’ Baruwa is a gender and development practitioner with almost two decades of experience from government and civil society focusing on public policy, gender advocacy, civil society strengthening and governance. She has led several social policies and reforms in Nigeria serving at various times as Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund, a technical and financial resource for women in governance in Nigeria; Program Officer at the defunct Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund and National Poverty Eradication Program (NAPEP); Gender Advisor at the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs; and as a Technical Assistant Research, Policy & Planning in the Ministry of Communication Technology.

Prior to joining Ford, she was the Civil Society and Media Specialist in the Peace & Democratic Governance Office of USAID/Nigeria where she designed and led multi-million-dollar civil society strengthening projects.

As one of ‘17 women changing the world’ identified by the Institute for Inclusive Security at its 2015 Colloquium held at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Funke is a member of the Women Waging Peace Network; a Leading Woman and Mentor.

Ms. Baruwa holds a B.Sc. Business Administration and an MBA in Management from the Universities of Abuja and Nigeria with post-graduate certifications in Gender and Public Policy & Management from the Universities of East Anglia and York, UK respectively.

To listen to Olufunke Baruwa, speak at the 2020 Sustainability in the Extractive Industries (SITEI) Conference, please click here to register.