Ms Sori-Coulibaly joined SWAC in 2023, after 35 years of professional dedication to sustainable development, economic reforms, political dialogue and led humanitarian assistance and recovery programmes. Her rich experience includes working with government as well as international and civil society organisations.
From 2016 to 2019, Ms Sori-Coulibaly served as Minister of Economy, Finance and Development for Burkina Faso and very briefly as Foreign Affairs Minister in 2022. She undertook innovative economic planning, fiscal, budgetary and procurement reforms and provided strategic oversight to the coordination of development work. She promoted constructive dialogue with the donor community. For her achievements as Minister, she was awarded the 2018 Women's Leadership Award at the Rebranding Africa Forum and was recognised by the Africa Performance Index (API) as the Best Minister of Finance in West and Central Africa in 2017. She has been granted a merit award as officer of the National Order of Burkina Faso.
Prior to joining Government, she served for two decades the United Nations in various senior-level positions including Assistant Secretary General and Special Representative of UN Secretary General in Guinea Bissau (2019-2020), and Deputy Special Representative in Burundi. She has also held positions as UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator, Designated Official on security matters and UNDP Resident Representative.
She has also worked closely with civil society organisations, serving amongst others as Secretary General of the Women's Union of Burkina Faso in the capital city, and Director of Publication at Femmes Solidaires. She has been a member of several Boards of Directors and Boards of Governors, of national, regional and international organisations.
Ms Sori-Coulibaly holds a DEA (postgraduate) in macroeconomics and planning, a DESS (Master) in development economics, a certificate in project evaluation. She also benefited from the United Nations trainings on security management, sexual harassment, gender, ethics, and respect for people living with disabilities.