Kolawolé Saïd HOUNKPONOU

Mr. HOUNKPONOU Kolawolé Saïd, a Beninese national, began his professional career as a research assistant at the National Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in 2004 after obtaining his Agro-Economist Engineering Diploma in December 2003.

In 2006, he launched the Non-Governmental Organization "Initiatives for Sustainable Integrated Development (IDID)". For 15 years, he coordinated several projects in the areas of resilience to climate change, food security, sustainable management of natural resources and land, impacting more than fifteen thousand (15,000) direct beneficiaries, four hundred seventy thousand (470,000) indirect beneficiaries, 40% of whom were women, spread across the entire national territory.

In terms of participation in national and international bodies, Mr. HOUNKPONOU Kolawolé Saïd has been, among other things: Observer of the Green Climate Fund since 2014; Administrator of the National Fund for the Environment and Climate (FNEC) from 2017 to 2021; and Leader of the agriculture thematic group for the development of Benin's Third National Communication on Climate Change (2014 to 2018).

In September 2021, Mr. HOUNKPONOU Kolawolé Saïd joined the ECOWAS Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (ARAA) based in Lomè (TOGO) as a Climate Expert. On February 23, 2022, he was appointed Director General of Water at the Ministry of Energy, Water and Mines, a position he holds to this day.