For three days, the Foundation for Sustainable Smallholder Solutions (FSSS) team stepped away from their places of primary assignment—Farmers’ Hubs and field locations across Nigeria—to gather in Abuja for the 2026 Staff Retreat.
The retreat was more than an annual convening. It was a deliberate pause to reflect, recalibrate, and prepare for a year that demands sharper focus and greater ambition.
As Isaiah Gabriel, the Foundation’s Executive Director, reflected, “This year’s retreat afforded us the opportunity to review our work from the previous year and plan towards the new year.” That spirit of honest reflection shaped the sessions. All staff members and departments examined what 2025 required of them and how effectively they delivered. The depth of engagement was evident throughout.
The Executive Director shared, “My reaction to this retreat is positive about the team. I saw the way they participated with rapt attention.” More importantly, there was clarity. “Most of the team have understood the scope of our work in terms of what we want to achieve in the different projects.” This clarity matters.
With different projects operating simultaneously across fifteen states in Nigeria, backed by the Heineken Africa Foundation and the Gates Foundation, and new partnerships being explored with institutions such as CIMMYT and AGRA, expectations are high and responsibility is growing. As the Executive Director further expressed, the team now better understands “the magnitude of our expectations and that of the donors in terms of our quick action in reporting and also trying to make impact.” Accountability, timely reporting, and measurable results are therefore central to the mandate, with the shared goal across all projects remaining clear: to ensure that the lives of smallholder farmers are better.
Yet beyond strategy, targets, and reporting frameworks, the retreat was also deeply human. It was a great three days, where we learned a lot, laughed, played fun games, and got to know ourselves better. There were moments of bonding and renewed appreciation for colleagues who work across diverse zones of the country, often under demanding conditions.
As staff returned to their various duty posts, there was a shared hope, as expressed by Ifeoma Chukwuka, the Foundation’s Human Resources Manager, that “everything that they’ve learnt we will see practically expressed in the field.” That is ultimately the measure of a retreat: not what is said in the room, but what changes afterwards.
Out of this reflection emerged a defining decision for the year ahead. As shared by Clinton Inene, the Foundation’s Brand and Communications Manager, during the retreat, after a year shaped by Growing Together for the planet, people, and prosperity, the Foundation has adopted a new North Star for 2026: Growing Forward.
“We reviewed our theme for last year and how we worked towards achieving it. With that at the back of our mind, we were able to come up with a North Star that will guide all our activities this year, which is Growing Forward,” Clinton explained.
He further expressed that this theme is not a departure from the past. It is a progression. “Growing Forward builds on sustaining the momentum for the things that, together as a team, we have achieved in 2025. It reflects continuity, but also acceleration.”
At its heart, the theme is collective. As expressed by different speakers during the retreat and built on by Clinton, “Together we are all energised to go forward into the new year to achieve the various objectives that have been set for each team individually and collectively.”
To grow forward means disciplined execution. It means sharper reporting systems. It means aligning daily actions with long-term outcomes. It means sustaining what works, correcting what does not, and expanding responsibly. Above all, it is a commitment to ensure that every intervention translates into real improvements in the lives of smallholder farmers.
The 2026 Staff Retreat aligned ambition with responsibility. It strengthened culture alongside strategy. And under the banner of Growing Forward, FSSS steps into the year deliberately and together, focused on one enduring purpose: delivering measurable, lasting impact for smallholder farmers.