Mercy Opayinka Oluwafunmilayo is a data scientist, policy advocate, and development professional working at the intersection of health data analytics, women’s health, and evidence-based policy design.

She is a graduate of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), where she studied Information and Communication Engineering. She is currently serving her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at the International Centre for Applied Mathematical Modelling and Data Analysis (ICAMMDA), where she works as a Research Data Analyst Intern, applying mathematical modeling and data science techniques to real-world analytical and research problems. She is a health data scientist, focusing primarily on women’s health systems and policy intelligence, using R as her core programming language, with working knowledge of Python and other analytical tools for data modeling and visualization.

Professional Experience & Policy Work

She serves as a Research Data Analyst and Policy Tracker at The Refugee Archive, an international organization focused on displaced populations, particularly displaced women and female-headed households.

In this role, she co-authored Volumes 1 and 2 of the Nigeria Female-Headed Household (FHH) Policy Tracker, a quarterly publication examining systemic inequalities affecting widows, single mothers, and displaced women.

Her work includes building evidence matrices, tracking policy implementation gaps across federal and state levels, and analyzing structural barriers such as healthcare access limitations, financial exclusion (including NIN-BVN-related constraints), and enforcement gaps in gender protection laws such as the VAPP Act. She also develops decision-ready policy intelligence, translating complex datasets into actionable recommendations for policymakers and NGOs. In her most recent work, she categorized 12 core policy risks and developed 12 reform windows aimed at guiding systemic advocacy and reform strategies.

Healthcare Innovation & Data Science Work

She is actively engaged in healthcare innovation, with a focus on applying machine learning and predictive modeling to improve early detection of cervical cancer in low-resource settings. Her work bridges technical modeling with real-world healthcare challenges, particularly in underserved communities.

Community Leadership – Girls Lead Safe Space (GLSS)

She is the Project Coordinator for Girls Lead Safe Space (GLSS), an outreach initiative implemented through IVLEAD in Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria.

She designed and led a structured multi-session program for secondary school girls (SS1–SS3), focusing on leadership development, decision-making, digital safety, and reproductive health education.

The program reached over 270 girls across multiple outreach sessions, using interactive learning methods, group discussions, and safe-space facilitation. As part of the intervention, she also coordinated the distribution of sanitary pads, ensuring both educational and immediate wellbeing support for participants.

Leadership & National Service Roles

During her National Youth Service, she held key leadership positions within the Digital Literacy for All (DL4ALL) CDS group:

• National Vice President (DL4ALL CDS)
• National General Secretary (DL4ALL CDS)

In these roles, she coordinated nationwide digital literacy initiatives, supporting the training of informal sector workers and youth across Nigeria. She contributed to the expansion of digital inclusion programs aimed at equipping communities with foundational digital skills for economic empowerment.

At her primary place of deployment in Oye-Ekiti, she also served as Vice President of the CDS group, where she coordinated digital literacy outreaches across schools, markets, and informal communities, strengthening grassroots digital education efforts.

Aspire Leadership Program

She is an alumna of the Aspire Leaders Program, where she completed intensive Harvard-led masterclasses in adaptive leadership, strategic communication, digital transformation, and AI in healthcare systems.

She actively engaged in cross-cultural collaboration with peers from over 150 countries, strengthening her global perspective and leadership capacity in health data and policy innovation.

Following her graduation in April 2026, she was selected into a post-program leadership role as a Facilitator and Program Leader for Cohort 2, where she will support and guide emerging global leaders in the next cycle of the program.

Focus & Direction

Her work is driven by a consistent mission: to leverage data, policy intelligence, and community-based interventions to improve outcomes in women’s health, displacement systems, and digital inclusion.

She is committed to building evidence-driven systems that translate data into action, policy into impact, and innovation into equity.