Laura Jalasjoki joined Burkina Faso country program as Country Representative in November 2021. In her role, Laura will support the day-to-day management of GGGI’s country program and its further expansion to help Burkina Faso achieve its development objectives via green growth. 

Laura has over 12 years of experience of managing teams, networks, and programs on sustainable development, green business models, and inclusive and participatory policymaking from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. 

Prior to joining GGGI, Laura worked as Senior Policy Analyst at the Contact Point of the European Network for Rural Development, leading the work on Greening the Rural Economy. She promoted climate action and environmentally sustainable approaches in EU-funded rural development programs and connected public administrations, research community, and civil society partners. Her work focused on identifying bioeconomy value chains that generate environmental and social benefits, and mainstreaming climate change mitigation and adaptation into agricultural support programs. 

Prior, Laura has several year’s experiences of managing multi-donor development programs for agricultural development and farmers’ organizations, at the AgriCord alliance and at the International Fund for Agricultural Development. In these roles, she supported more inclusive policy-making and strong rural organizations as key vehicles to reach the SDGs. She has also worked for Finnish bilateral development aid in Central America. 

Laura holds a Master’s degree in International Relations. She speaks English, French, and Spanish.