Hadizatou Rosine Sori-Coulibaly, SWAC Honorary President

 

Ms Hadizatou Rosine Sori-Coulibaly has over 35 years of professional experience, working across a variety of fields. These include the facilitation of political dialogue in contexts of political crisis (Togo, Burundi and Guinea Bissau), electoral processes and peacebuilding, constitutional and institutional reforms, management of humanitarian crises, sustainable human development, good management of public finances and public procurement. She has proven experience in relations with technical and financial partners and civil society actors. In the course of her work, she has maintained close relations with the United Nations Security Council, African regional organisations and international institutions.

She has held various positions of responsibility including that of Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Guinea-Bissau from August 2019 to December 2020 and was from January 2016 to January 2019, Minister of Economy, Finance and Development of Burkina Faso.

Prior to that, she held senior positions at the United Nations where she served for twenty years. Her responsibilities included the co-ordination of humanitarian and development activities of UN agencies at the country level. In this context, she served as Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and UN System Coordinator in Burundi (2011 to 2014), UN Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and UN System Security Officer in Benin and Togo (2006 to 2011, then from 2014 to 2016 in Burundi), UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Mauritania covering Programme and Operations and UNDP Senior Economist from 1996 to 2002 (Burundi and Benin).

Prior to the United Nations, Ms. Sori-Coulibaly started her career as an economist at the Ministry of Planning and Development (1982-1990) before becoming National Project Coordinator for the International Labour Office in the area of the informal sector (1991-1992), and training officer for small and medium enterprises in a CIDA (Canada) project with Dévéloppement International des Jardins from 1993 to 1995.

She has been a member of several Boards of Directors and Boards of Governors (World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, African Bank for Economic Development in Africa, WAEMU, G5 Sahel, BCEAO and IFAD).

She has been very active in civil society organisations and has been Secretary General of the Women's Union of Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou. She has been active in organisations such as the Mouvement Burkinabe des Droits de l'Homme et des Peuples (MBDHP) and was the director of publication of the Journal Femmes Solidaires created by the Association Femmes Solidaires.

She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET). She is a resource person for the Harvard University leadership programme in the United States.

Ms. Sori-Coulibaly was recognised as the best Minister of Finance in West and Central Africa in 2017 by the Africa Performance Index (API) and received the 2018 Women's Leadership Award at the 2018 Rebranding Africa Forum.

Hadizatou Rosine Sori -Coulibaly is an officer of the National Order of Burkina Faso.

Ms Sori-Coulibaly has a DEA in macroeconomics and planning and a DESS in development economics and United Nations training certificates on security management, sexual harassment, gender, ethics and respect for people living with disabilities.

She is married with children.