Over 2026, we’re introducing you to some of the people who make GRID3 the organisation it is. This week we’re profiling Dr. Hafiz Yaro, who leads GRID3’s engagement work in Nigeria. Originally from Kano State, Dr. Yaro brings both deep public health expertise and a lifelong familiarity with the communities GRID3 works to serve.

What do you do for GRID3?

As Engagement Manager for Nigeria, I lead in-country planning and operationalization of GRID3 workstreams across program areas–including Routine Immunization and malaria–working closely with national stakeholders such as NPHCDA and NMEP, as well as state government counterparts. I manage these relationships and coordinate the delivery of our programs, ensuring that GRID3’s work translates into action on the ground.

Have you always loved working with maps? 

My fascination with geospatial data began well before I understood what it was. I’ve always loved maps and frequently explored locations on Google Maps out of curiosity, intrigued by how communities are organized, how road networks connect them, and how access to services differs across areas. There was always something compelling about seeing the world spatially to understand not just what exists, but where and how different places relate to one another. That early, almost instinctive curiosity about maps is ultimately what shaped the professional path I’m on today.

You’re a medical doctor by training. How did you first become interested in using geospatial data to improve development outcomes?  In what ways does your medical training give you special insights into the needs of the communities we work with and/or serve? 

Growing up in northern Nigeria, I did not encounter maternal and childhood deaths as abstract statistics. They were lived realities. Families around me lost loved ones to causes that were largely preventable, not because the solutions were unknown, but because access to quality healthcare was constrained by geography, poverty, and systemic inequity. Witnessing this shaped my decision to pursue medicine.

Yet four years of clinical practice taught me that clinical care alone cannot dismantle the structural barriers that keep women and children from life-saving services. That realization moved me from the bedside to public health, with a single objective: to expand access to quality, equitable health services for women and children in the most underserved communities.

The connection to development work came during my time working on HIV programs. I saw how hotspot mapping was being used to identify areas with high numbers of new HIV cases and to guide interventions to where they were needed most. That was the first time I saw how location data could influence real-world decisions and improve health outcomes.

My interest deepened when I joined the GeoST4R project by Pathfinder, which was co-implemented with GRID3. Through that work, I was exposed to the many ways geospatial data can support public health across sub-Saharan Africa. While it is widely used for immunization and polio interventions, I began to see its potential for addressing broader challenges, from maternal and child health to family planning and nutrition.

What keeps me interested is the opportunity to use geospatial data to help answer a simple but important question: who is being left behind, and how do we reach them? As someone working in public health, I see geospatial data as a practical tool for improving service access and ensuring that women and children in underserved communities are not overlooked.

What in particular attracted you to GRID3?

A few aspects drew me to GRID3, especially having had the privilege of working closely with the organization before joining. First, GRID3’s mission–making spatial data accessible to drive interventions that reach the communities and populations most in need–aligns directly with my long-term goal of improving access to equitable health services for women and children in underserved areas. Second, the team structure: a diverse, globally distributed group of people with varied backgrounds and perspectives all working toward a shared goal. Third, the remote-first work environment, which I believe genuinely maximizes employee value in ways a traditional office setup simply can’t.

What makes GRID3 unique? 

What truly makes GRID3 distinctive is the thoroughness of its planning. That rigor runs consistently across every domain — engagement, programs, and technical work —and it’s what elevates the quality of the data products we deliver. It’s not something you see everywhere, and it makes a real difference in the credibility and impact of the work.

Do you have a favorite experience working at GRID3?

My favorite experiences at GRID3 have been the in-person meetups. Since joining last year, I’ve had the privilege of connecting with colleagues face-to-face, from the retreat in Nairobi to meeting Sessie in Uganda to Annie and Shamaila’s visit to Kano. Working in a remote-first environment makes these moments feel truly special. The in-person connection is surreal in the best way: it brings the team to life in a way that no video call can replicate.

How has your work changed since you first started working with GRID3?

Reflecting on my journey since joining GRID3, the growth has been significant. I started out mostly completing tasks, then gradually transitioned to designing projects and owning a workstream, and then multiple workstreams. Over time, I moved into an advisory role on Nigeria strategy, and I’m now leading the development of GRID3’s new Nigeria strategy for the years ahead. It’s been a rewarding progression — each stage building on the last and expanding both the scope of my responsibility and the impact I’m able to drive.

Some people can have a hard time connecting the idea of data with improving lives. How do you see it?

One clear example is our work in Kano State across the 15 zero-dose LGAs. Through this work, we’ve helped the state plan its routine immunization interventions using harmonized settlement data tables. Beyond planning, we’ve helped facilities identify communities that were previously unreached–not because of lack of effort, but because of the wrong service delivery strategy or incorrect settlement-to-facility assignments. Correcting those misalignments has had a direct impact on access to Routine Immunization services for communities that had been falling through the cracks.

Why do you think it’s so important to promote the use of geospatial data in development? 

Because without it, the most underserved communities stay invisible in planning. Our work in Kano showed that clearly. Entire communities weren’t being reached, not because of resource gaps, but because of data gaps. Incorrect assignments, wrong service delivery strategies. Geospatial data surfaces those blind spots. For a country like Nigeria, with the scale and complexity it has, that kind of visibility isn’t optional. It’s essential.

What lessons have you learned about how to effectively work with stakeholders? 

That relationships come before results. Working with government counterparts at national and subnational levels, I’ve learned that trust has to be built before technical outputs can land well. People need to feel that you understand their context, their needs, that the data you’re bringing is meant to support their work and not replace their judgment. Once that foundation is there, everything flows better, and the outputs actually get used.

What is special about working in Nigeria?

Nigeria offers a rare asset: a decade of spatial data drawn from repeated campaigns across polio, routine immunization, NTDs, and other sectors. This depth of geographic information gives GRID3 a strong foundation to update core data layers and improve planning, microplanning, and last-mile delivery. The challenge lies in how this data is held. Because programs operate in silos, it remains fragmented across agencies and sectors, inconsistently formatted, and rarely shared. The real work — and the real opportunity — is integration: connecting these isolated datasets into a unified spatial resource that any program can plan from.

How are you working to help make GRID3 work sustainable long after our projects have ended? 

For me, the core of sustainability is alignment, ensuring that stakeholders’ needs, donor priorities, and GRID3’s mission point in the same direction. Achieving this alignment means we are addressing stakeholders’ actual pain points, which earns their buy-in and helps them see the value in GRID3’s work. Once stakeholders recognize that value, they have a reason to organize and sustain the gains themselves, independent of external funding.

What are you doing when you aren’t working?

I love going for long runs, spending time with family as well as reading books and watching anime.

For Hafiz, the measure of good data work is simple: do the outputs actually get used? Building the trust that makes that possible is what he shows up to do every day.