Expert Profile

Mr Issaka Ouedraogo-Iseli is an Executive-in-Residence within the Global Fellowship Initiative of the GCSP. Mr Issaka Ouedraogo-Iseli has gathered a broad and long experience at the intersection of African and international affairs as a government official. During the last 7 years, he served within the Swiss Army Centre for Electronic Operations and subsequently within the Swiss Federal Intelligence. As an analyst and manager in the intelligence community, he specialized in building resilience to Political and Security risk for Swiss development and humanitarian programs in the Sahel and Horn of Africa regions through strategic foresight and advisory to federal decision and policymakers. His practitioner experience and research interests include African governance, geopolitics and diplomacy. At present, he is building a consultancy on Sahel Political and Security risks to help Swiss businesses and government executives understand how Sahel geopolitics affects their strategies and operations so they can avoid risk, seize opportunities and build influence in an increasingly complex and volatile strategic environment. Previously, he held a legal advisory function within the Task Force Asset Recovery of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs’s Directorate of International Law. He also worked as Policy advisor in the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, Foreign trade and Economic Cooperation Directorate where he provided analysis and advice about best practices on corporate responsibility and the maintenance of Switzerland network of Free Trade Agreements. Mr Issaka Ouedraogo-Iseli holds a MAS in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva) and a MAS in public law from the Université of Ouagadougou. He is a Burkinabè and Swiss national. He speaks English, French, German and Mossi; he has basic knowledge of Bambara.