Awa Sanou

Awa Sanou is an Applied Economist who uses an interdisciplinary approach in her work and collaborates with researchers from other fields. She currently works with the Research Team at the Mastercard Foundation. In her research work she has investigated sustainability issues among agricultural enterprises including growth and climate adaptation strategies. She also examined incentive mechanisms for the enforcement of food safety regulations in agricultural value chains. Moreover, she worked on research projects testing mechanisms which can increase productivity along agricultural value chains. This means that she explored risk management strategies as well as adaptive technologies with the potential to foster resilient and sustainable practices from the farm to the market. She has also been involved in capacity building activities for scholars through mentoring and the delivery of technical trainings in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to pursuing her training in Agriculture, Awa worked for two years at the World Bank where she provided technical support to the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit in the Africa Region and engaged in stakeholder consultations to improve the design of projects. Awa holds a PhD from the Department of Community Sustainability and a Master’s in Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics from Michigan State University. She completed her B.A. in Economics and Political Science at Middlebury College in Vermont.