Welcoming YPARD Burkina Faso Country Representative: Minata Coulibaly

We are delighted to welcome the new YPARD Burkina Faso Country Representative Minata Coulibaly.

Minata Coulibaly is a graduate of journalism and communication from the University of Ouagadougou and holds a certificate in innovation and rural development from the International Centre oriented in Research in Agriculture based in Wagenigen/Netherlands.  She also holds a Masters degree in Agriculture, innovation and rural development of University of Ouagadougou.

She has seven years of professional experience  working in communications, project management and marketing. Currently, she works at Practical Action Consulting West Africa as a knowledge and communication officer where her day to day work involves supporting   the development and promotion of Practical Answers knowledge services in French as well as contributing to the growth of the West Africa office by communications, partnership building and fundraising

Previously, she has held various position in national and International NGO’s in Agriculture, Market information System (MIS) and renewable energy. This has built her capacity in the area of rural development and has been a vital value of her professional life. 

Additionally, she has experience in the domain of agriculture markets and policy, youth engagement in agriculture  and  energy policy in West Africa. She also possesses skills in Social Media, Public Relations, Communication, marketing, Sustainable Agriculture and leadership. Since 2013, she is involved in community development and YPARD / Young Professionals for Agricultural Development in Burkina Faso. Finally, Minata was selected for the 2016 Young African Leaders Initiative, YALI, for the Regional Leadership Center of Accra (Ghana).

Her passion for agricultural advocacy started with her first job in rural areas in 2008. Seeing the empowering impact that sharing knowledge and training had on the farmers, especially women, helped her keep her passion for agriculture and development alive.

She has this to say on the account of joining YPARD;

“Agriculture is the way of life for 80% of our active population a majority of whom struggle to move out from poverty. Forming the YPARD Chapter in Burkina Faso is the best way to advocate for more youth in agriculture as it will allow us to disseminate more information and opportunities in regards to agriculture among the youth. Currently, we are under talks with the public authorities on how to bring more services for youth in agribusiness, as per YPARD vision. We want to be the voice of youth and the change we want to see in our  community.”

We are looking forward to hearing more on Youth-in-Agriculture activities from Burkina Faso under the leadership of Minata.

If you are from or based in the Burkina Faso, and want to get involved in YPARD activities, Burkina Faso please contact Minata at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Welcome on board Minata!