Céline Yoda (born April 6, 1958) is a Burkinabé politician. She was the ambassador of Burkinabe in Taiwan (R.O.C) from 2013-2017. She also served as the Minister for the Promotion of Women, having formerly been the Ambassador for Burkina Faso to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Early life and education

Yoda received her diploma from the École Normale Supérieure d’Enseignement Technique et Professionnel in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

, Senegal, where she studied social and familial

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

. Before serving in public office, she spent a long career working for

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s and some government groups.

Political career

She was the first female secretary general of SPONG (the ''Secrétariat Permanent des ONG'', Burkina Faso's organization of NGO's); she served in this position for two terms. She also worked for a time for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

in Burkina Faso as a national expert on "population creation and development". From 1997 to 2000, she was the Minister for the Promotion of Women, and was the inaugural holder of that post following its creation. She was subsequently named as the Burkina Faso's Ambassador to Denmark, and held that post until 2007 when she returned to her country to become the Minister for the Promotion of Women once more. She remained in this post until 2011, when she was replaced in the role by Nestorine Sangaré. She was named her country's Ambassador to Denmark once again in 2016. She later described that she felt that the equal rights between men and women that she saw there and in other Scandinavian countries was something she hoped would eventually be fostered in Africa. One of her addition duties was the sponsor of the diplomatic mission to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, which reopened that year following an absence of 20 years. She said in an interview that the Taiwanese population shared many similarities with Burkina Faso, and that the model of development undertaken by the country over the past 50 years was one that her country should strive to imitate. Following her duties in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, she returned to the Burkina Faso government as the Minister for the Promotion of Women again.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoda, Celine 1958 births Living people Government ministers of Burkina Faso Burkinabe women ambassadors 21st-century Burkinabe women politicians 21st-century diplomats Women government ministers of Burkina Faso Ambassadors of Burkina Faso to Denmark Ambassadors of Burkina Faso to Taiwan Recipients of the Order of Brilliant Star 21st-century Burkinabe politicians