Welcoming the Communication Focal Person for YPARD Nigeria: Nelson Owoicho

Nelson Owoicho is a university graduate born and raised in Nigeria. He is a strategic communication and multimedia professional with years of cross-sectoral experience cutting across communication, agricultural development, social development, education, youth engagement and advocacy.

He is currently enrolled with the International Institute of Journalism, Nigeria for a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism. Nelson holds a certificate in social sector management from the Enterprise Development Centre – Pan – Atlantic University, a Transformational Leadership Program from the African-American Institute; and a certificate in Social Entrepreneurship and Leadership from the Kanthari – International Institute of Social Entrepreneurs, Kerala India.

Nelson is a LEAP Africa Social Innovation Fellow and a member of the African Photojournalist Database – a project by World Press Photo and Everyday Africa. For the past two years, he has worked with UNICEF Nigeria as a documentary photographer documenting their programs around Nigeria. He has also worked with WHO-AFRO, United Purpose, Street Child Nigeria, FHI 360, ONE Campaign, Jingkingsiar India among other local and international organizations in Nigeria and India. Projects he worked on include Strategic Communication, Multimedia Content Production, Social Media and Advocacy Campaign, Youth Leadership and Employability Training among others.

Nelson was a ONE champion where he was part of several advocacy campaigns including the Do Agric Campaign- a campaign targeted at getting young people into agriculture and influencing policies around agriculture in countries in Africa. As a ONE champion, he also played a role the Make Naija Stronger Campaign advocating for the Federal Government of Nigeria to allocate at least 1% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) to the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF) in its budget, as provided for by the 2014 National Health Act (NHA). This was also for the Executive of Government to publicly ensure that open contracting is implemented in the health sector.

Nelson founded the Education for Change for Young People Initiative to provide access to quality education for young people in rural areas. Education for Change has provided five rural libraries and reading hubs, trained young community leaders through its Youth-LEAD project and have worked with thousands of young people around various programs.

Nelson looks forward to using his rich experience amassed from his engagement with various institutions and projects for the benefit of YPARD Nigeria. He hopes to achieve this by leveraging multi-media platforms and multi-stakeholder approaches to increase Nigerian youth’s commitment to agricultural development and food security via YPARD networks.

Nelson is is happy to join the YPARD Nigeria National Team. Speaking on partnerships with the network, he said, “I plan to sustain cross-sectional relationships with our partners in both private and public sectors so as to give youths a stronger platform to promote agro-innovations, and influence agricultural policy planning and implementation”.

We thank the outgoing communication focal person, John Agboola for his untiring dedication and passion to youth development in agriculture. We sincerely wish him the best in his future endeavours.

To get involved in YPARD Nigeria activities, please contact Nelson via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Photo credit: Nelson Owoicho