Boys Champions has named the six mentors who will guide the 50 men of its 2026 DearMen Fellowship, the national cohort that began on the 1st of June 2026. The organization drew them from some of the most respected names in gender equality and development work, and between them they carry the research, the policy weight, and the frontline experience this work demands.
At the center of the group is Cody Ragonese, Director of Programs at Equimundo, the organization widely regarded as the global authority on engaging men and boys in gender equality. His career has been spent turning research on harmful norms into practical ways to change them, and he brings that evidence to the fellows.
He is joined by two of the strongest policy and legal voices working on these issues in Nigeria. Ruth Okafor, Government Relations and Policy Specialist at One Acre Fund, has spent over six years turning advocacy into reform, coordinating programmes worth more than $900,000 and building the kind of coalitions that move real policy. Iya Bawa Pyiki, Partnerships and Compliance Lead at Gender Mobile Initiative, is a lawyer and Commonwealth Fellow whose work contributed to the landmark 35% affirmative action ruling that expanded women’s representation in Nigerian governance.
The group also brings the craft of communication and the lens of economic inclusion. Msen Nabo, Communications Specialist at International IDEA, knows how narratives shape what people believe, and how to correct the ones that cause harm. Stevelee Mwichigi, Women’s Economic Empowerment and Advocacy Officer at AGRA, leads VALUE4HER to advance women’s economic power across Africa, and is himself part of a growing conversation among men about what manhood should mean today. They are joined by Noel Ifeanyi Alumona, Founder and CEO of Boys Champions and the first African to win the AFS Award for Young Global Citizens, who built the organization on the belief that masculinity can be a force for equality.
The group deliberately includes women as well as men. Boys Champions says work on masculinity has to stay answerable to the people it most affects, and that having women guide the fellows keeps that accountability at the heart of the programme.
Boys Champions said the group was assembled with deliberate care.
We did not put this group together by chance,” said Zeenat Adamu, Executive Director of Boys Champions. “We went looking for people who have done the real work on masculinity and gender, and who would guide our fellows with genuine care. Every name on this list was chosen on purpose. These are the people we are trusting with the next generation of men.”
Over the six months ahead, the mentors will guide the fellows through learning sessions, one to one mentorship, and the community projects each fellow will design. At the end of the programme, the fellows join the National Male Allies Network, the growing body of men working with Boys Champions across the country.
For Boys Champions, the strength of this group is a measure of how seriously it takes the work of raising a healthier generation of men.
