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View from the Field: Dr. Rafatou Fofana

DR. RAFATOU

FOFANA

An advocate for data tools

for regional cooperation

Initially trained as a rural equipment engineer specializing in Dr. Fofana’s career has not been without its challenges, including
hydraulics, Dr. Rafatou Fofana began her career supplying rural areas pay discrimination and sexual harassment. And, while she believes
with drinking water from modern wells and boreholes equipped with that parents are increasingly understanding “the importance of
human-powered pumps and constructing small water networks for providing equal educational opportunities for girls and boys,” she
six communes in the Mono department in southern Benin. “I was also says that more women should be encouraged to enter water
providing clean water to households while realizing that people also professions in both the private and public sectors, although some
needed water for irrigation and small-scale agriculture for their progress has been made in recent years.
survival,” says Dr. Fofana, now a hydrologist and Acting Director of
the Observatory of Water Resources and Associated Ecosystems
The need for data sharing tools for regional trust
at the Volta Basin Authority (VBA).
and collaboration
“It’s about water for humans, water for animals, and water for crops,” Dr. Fofana has worked for a decade at the Volta Basin Authority
she says, along with cooperation between countries that share headquarters in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where she
these water resources. “Shared resources require joint solutions promotes the coordination and integrated management of
for sustainable development.”
shared water resources among the basin’s six countries. The
projects she oversees focus on ensuring the sustainable use of
Dr. Fofana was attracted to a career in water resources management water resources and preserving and rehabilitating ecosystems.
not only to help communities but also because of her astrological
connection; her zodiac sign is Pisces, one of the water signs.
To this end, the Observatory collects and analyzes countries’
hydrometeorological data from Volta Basin monitoring networks.
“I liked reading horoscopes, and Pisces is all about water,” However, she says data processing suffers from a lack of
she explains. “A Pisces is more alive in the water, so I explored technical staff, including the absence of an expert in GIS and
opportunities that could take me into this field.”

remote sensing. She also notes that the framework for data

sharing between countries is insufficient, but initiatives to
Born in southern Togo and raised in Benin, Dr. Fofana, 53, obtained address this are underway.
a master’s degree in Water and Environmental Sciences from the
École des Ingénieurs de l’Équipement Rural in Burkina Faso and her Dr. Fofana says that some monitoring stations are installed in
PhD in Hydrology and Integrated Water Resources Management areas of insecurity and vandalism, making data collection difficult

from the UNESCO Chair of Mathematical Physics and Applications, and fueling “a strong interest in using satellite data.” While there
in collaboration with the Laboratory of Applied Hydrology of the has been progress in this area, she says, country partners need
University of Cotonou in Benin. Her research focused on quantitative capacity building in processing satellite data to enable the VBA
analysis of the impact of climate change on water resources in Parakou, to make optimal use of available satellite products at different
capital of the Borgou department and the third-largest city in Benin. spatial and temporal resolutions.
She also conducted qualitative studies to address public concerns
about the risks of pollution in the city’s main water resource.

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