Dr. Osasuyi Dirisu’s journey began in medicine, where she was first confronted with the realities of unequal access, the weight of poverty, and the silent struggles of women and young people whose voices rarely shaped the systems meant to serve them. Her early years as a community medical officer exposed her to underserved rural and urban communities, where she saw that health outcomes were deeply influenced not just by clinical services, but by social norms, gender inequalities, and structural barriers.
These experiences pushed her beyond the consulting room and into public health, research, and eventually policy, fields where she could influence the root causes of vulnerability rather than the symptoms. As she moved from community health to large-scale research, she became known for her ability to combine empathy, evidence, and cultural insight. Her work in conflict-affected regions, urban slums, and marginalized communities revealed how social norms, gender dynamics, and systemic inequalities shape the lives of women and girls. This shaped her life-long commitment: to build systems that truly listen to—and reflect—the realities of the most vulnerable.
Over the years, she has led groundbreaking initiatives across public health, gender equality, GBV prevention, behavioural insights, and social inclusion. Whether developing the National GBV Dashboard during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading social norms research on women’s empowerment, or advocating for digital inclusion for the poorest, her work has been guided by one vision: to ensure that policies and programs are shaped by evidence, compassion, and an understanding of real human experiences.
Today, as Executive Director of the Policy Innovation Centre and Senior Fellow at the NESG, she works at the intersection of research, policy, and systems innovation—bringing together governments, development partners, and communities to design solutions that are context-sensitive, inclusive, and transformative. Her driving belief is simple: lasting change begins when people are not only reached, but understood.
Dr. Osasuyi Dirisu is an accomplished development leader, gender expert, and public policy strategist with over two decades of experience advancing gender equity, social inclusion, public health, and evidence-based policymaking across Africa. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Policy Innovation Centre (PIC) and Senior Fellow at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), where she provides strategic leadership for Nigeria’s first dedicated behavioural and social policy institution. In this role, she oversees organizational growth, funder diversification, partnership development, and the implementation of high-impact research and policy initiatives that drive national transformation.
With a multidisciplinary background in medicine, public health, business administration, and public policy, Dr. Dirisu has led major national and international programs funded by the World Bank, UNDP, WHO, UNICEF, USAID, BMGF, DFID, and the EU Spotlight Initiative. Her work spans gender-responsive governance, social norms change, GBV prevention, health systems strengthening, digital inclusion, and behavioural insights for accountability and anti-corruption. She is widely recognized for her pioneering contributions to GBV prevention and response systems, social norms transformation, digital inclusion for vulnerable groups, and evidence-driven policymaking.
Among her landmark achievements, Dr. Dirisu led the development of Nigeria’s first National Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Dashboard, a real-time data system used by government agencies, donors, and civil society to strengthen GBV response and accountability. She has directed transformative research such as the Clinical Management of Rape (CMR) in conflict settings study, the Nigeria for Women Project social norms exploration, and the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) GBV Risk Assessment. She also co-led the evaluation of Breakthrough ACTION’s Advocacy Core Group Model and served as the Country Lead for the Evidence Consortium on Women’s Groups (ECWG).
At the PIC, she conceptualized and institutionalized the Gender and Inclusion Summit, a national platform convening policymakers, global development leaders, private sector executives, researchers, and civil society actors to advance gender equality, inclusion, and sustainable development. She also leads a portfolio on behavioural insights for anti-corruption, including a knowledge exchange series with Chatham House.
Dr. Dirisu’s career includes senior leadership roles at the Population Council, Freedom Foundation, and major health insurance organizations, where she managed systems serving over 50,000 clients and oversaw multi-state teams. She holds an MBBS from the University of Ibadan, an MPH from the University of Lagos, an MBA from the Pan-Atlantic University, and a PhD in Public Health from the University of Leeds as a Commonwealth Scholar. She has also completed multiple executive programs at the Harvard Kennedy School, including Public Policy, Women and Power, Behavioral Insights, and the Senior Executive Fellowship.
Dr. Dirisu is deeply committed to designing context-sensitive, locally grounded solutions that strengthen governance, elevate marginalized voices, and transform systems to improve lives.