On the outside, Dr .Nestorine Compaoré has the comportment of a high-ranking government official. Intelligent, thoughtful, well-dressed, articulate, she is at ease speaking to everyone. One could easily believe that she came to her current position as a civil servant through the usual channels. However, once Dr. Compaoré begins to discuss her favorite subject, gender, the activist in her emerges. Her eyes light up, her speech quickens and you can almost see the ideas travel through her as she transmits them to the listener.
Her story is unusual in that there was no straight line that took her to where she is today. From 2002-2009, she was working three full-time jobs: gender advisor for the Center of Democratic Governance in Burkina Faso, gender consultant at the Dutch Embassy, and lecturer on gender at the University of Ouagadougou. However, she was dissatisfied with the available information on gender in Burkina Faso and realized that her country needed better gender resources. She decided to end her consultancy and create the Center for Research and Intervention in Gender and Development (CRIGED). Using her own financing, as well as fundraising, little by little she developed the center to where it is today.
"I realized that most experts have good ideas, but if you don't have a site, people can't transform their ideas into action; they lose energy," she said. "When I worked with civil society, it gave me an opportunity to push for a cause I believed in. That's why I changed my position from the donor side to civil society. CRIGED is a technical center for research on gender and development; it provides technical support to all stakeholders including government, civil society, universities, women's networks, etc. It also provides monitoring and evaluation on issues of gender and development, and serves as a tool for capacity building of organizations, including advocacy work and activities related to impacting gender policies. With the support of TrustAfrica (including several grants to build capacity for gender organizations) and a host of other donors, CRIGED has become the "go-to" resource for information on gender issues in West Africa.
After developing such a successful organization, one would think Dr. Compaoré would at last feel satisfied, but fate had other plans. In early 2011, she was asked to be Minister for the Promotion of Women.
"When I changed sides to join civil society, I realized I lost a lot of power, in terms of the consideration and attention I had from previous colleagues and ministries because I was no longer a donor--just someone who wanted change."
Dr. Compaoré views her position as Minister as a chance to work within the system to affect change. "This position gives me an opportunity to improve the legal provisions, build capacity of actors, CSOs, ministries, the first lady, even the President himself. It is important to sensitize people on gender."
Few people can work for civil society, donor organizations and the government on a cause they feel passionate about. Her experience has afforded Dr. Compaoré a unique vantage point on how to win in the struggle for gender equality. "I started to understand things differently, because sometimes I think we judge people without knowing their constraints. When you know their constraints, instead of being confrontational, which discourages them and affects them in the wrong way, you can be more comprehensive and constructive."
