Dataphyte Foundation Strengthens Women Farmers' Capacity for Evidence-Based Policy Advocacy

Dataphyte Foundation has strengthened the capacity of the Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) Secretariat and women farmer representatives from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to gather, manage and use evidence for policy advocacy and decision-making.

The training builds on Dataphyte Foundation's ongoing support to SWOFON to strengthen the visibility of smallholder women farmers in Nigeria's agricultural policy and planning. Although women play a significant role in Nigeria's agricultural sector, gaps in data on their numbers, needs and the challenges affecting their productivity continue to limit the extent to which their realities are reflected in policies, budgets and agricultural interventions.

Since 2024, with support from the International Budget Partnership (IBP), Dataphyte Foundation has worked with SWOFON to use data and technology to document the experiences and needs of women farmers across Nigeria. The initiative is designed to generate reliable evidence that can support advocacy, policy planning and interventions aimed at improving the conditions of women farmers.

A key component of the engagement is the SWOFON digital platform, which serves as a central database for documenting women farmers and generating evidence about their experiences and agricultural activities.

During the training, participants received a live demonstration of the updated SWOFON platform, including how new members can be registered through a digital form. The form captures information on farmers' personal details, farming activities and socioeconomic conditions.

Paul Akinwumi, Digital Innovation Officer at Dataphyte Foundation, led the demonstration and guided SWOFON's technical focal point through the platform's navigation, registration and management features.

The platform currently contains more than 140,000 records on women farmers, providing information on their identities, farm locations, farming practices, crops cultivated, primary sources of income, sources of finance, access to markets, agricultural input suppliers, access to extension services, farm sizes, land ownership, access to agricultural inputs and services, and levels of digital inclusion.

A major addition to the platform is SWOFON AI, an AI-powered assistant designed to help the SWOFON Secretariat interact with the database and generate insights from the information collected.

Through SWOFON AI, the Secretariat can ask questions about the data and obtain insights that can support policy advocacy, stakeholder engagement and decision-making around potential policy interventions. This creates an opportunity to move beyond simply collecting data to making the evidence more accessible and actionable for advocacy.

The training therefore focused not only on the technical use of the platform but also on strengthening participants' ability to gather and use credible evidence to communicate the realities of women farmers and influence policies and programmes affecting the agricultural sector.

By strengthening SWOFON's capacity to collect, manage, analyse and apply evidence, Dataphyte Foundation aims to contribute to a stronger evidence base for policies and interventions that respond to the needs of women farmers.

Through its continued collaboration with SWOFON and IBP, Dataphyte Foundation will continue to support the use of data and technology to improve the visibility of women farmers and strengthen evidence-based policy advocacy in Nigeria's agricultural sector.

Explore the SWOFON platform: https://shwfarmers.net/