Benjamine Paré

Working closely with local governments in Burkina Faso, Benjamine has developed a practical understanding of what enables services to function effectively at the local level. She has seen that transferring responsibilities to communes is not enough. A municipality can have the mandate, the infrastructure and the support of partners; but unless it can plan, monitor, supervise operators, mobilise resources and organise dialogue with citizens and technical services, the service is unlikely to be reliable or sustainable. Benjamine supports that operational strengthening.

She works with communes, service providers, technical services and programme teams to turn local water and sanitation responsibilities into concrete management practices. Her work has spanned municipal assessments, local planning, municipal technical services, delegated service management, performance monitoring, capacity strengthening and local accountability mechanisms. She has contributed to long-term support processes across diverse regions in Burkina Faso, working with local authorities in a wide range of social, economic and institutional contexts. Throughout her career, her focus has remained the same: helping local governments move from project dependence towards more credible and sustainable service management.

What sets Benjamine apart is her attention to detail and her understanding that effective local service delivery depends as much on day-to-day systems and practices as it does on policies, funding or infrastructure. She understands infrastructure, but she pays equal attention to workplans, contracts, reports, budgets, municipal routines and the capacity of local actors to follow through. While she is increasingly taking on mission coordination responsibilities, her greatest value lies in implementation: ensuring that institutional support is organised, documented, followed up and useful to the communes it is meant to serve.

A few highlights

• 10 years of professional experience in Burkina Faso, focused on water and sanitation governance, project planning, monitoring and support to municipalities and service providers
• Implementation professional with growing responsibility in communal water and sanitation governance and local service strengthening
• Supports the EU-funded Centre-Ouest interventions, including regional work planning, administration of the support unit and representation in consultation spaces.
• Contributed to institutional support for Banfora municipality, including municipal performance, professional management of public water and sanitation services, and mobilisation of resources and partners.
• Supported six communes in Burkina Faso’s northern region, including technical and institutional assessments, establishment of communal water and sanitation services, and capacity strengthening.
• Contributed to communal monitoring systems, delegated management and operator capacity strengthening under the Haute Comoé basin water project.
• Academic qualifications: Master’s in Water, Environment and Health and a professional Master’s in Territory, Environment and Health from Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, Ouagadougou. 
• Working language: French, with basic English.