About Amina Salihu

Dr. Amina Salihu is Senior Program Officer with the MacArthur Foundation Africa Office. A consultant, farmer, and Muslim feminist, Amina was a lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Program Coordinator at the Centre for Democracy and Development, Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and Coordinator, DFID / UKAid’s Coalitions for Change (C4C) Programme. She has been a consultant on gender and policy to numerous government and development partner and civil society organizations including INEC, Ministries of Women Affairs, Finance and Budget & Planning; DFID, United Nations, European Union; Action Aid International, and FEMNET. She was a gender technical team member, for the Nigeria Vision 20 2020 policy development process, and for the review of the Nigeria Gender Policy, 2006.

Amina is a social entrepreneur facilitating ideas and opportunities for agro-enterprise, voice, and advocacy for women, young people, persons with disabilities, and their communities, especially in Northern Nigeria. Amina is immediate past Chair of the Kaduna State Rehabilitation Board for Persons with Disabilities and is an honorary adviser to numerous government, private sector, and civil society organizations on gender and policy. Amina was the pioneer co-Chair of the Board of Directors, and the technical designer of the Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund. She is a technical designer and advisor to the EU RoLAC program on the design of a digital and web-based Sexual Offender Register for Nigeria. Amina is a member of the Governing Council of Ekiti State University (EKSU).

Amina has written widely and moderated, facilitated, and participated in panels and conversations on women and girls’ rights and the environment both nationally and internationally including at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Her latest work is ‘Hikima’ a volume of Hausa proverbs on women’s agency written in English and Hausa. Amina received her B.Sc. and M.Sc from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and a Ph.D. from the University of Abuja. Amina has spent time at Aspen, the Universities of Cape Town, Sussex, and Liverpool. She is a keen volunteer and traveler.