Jacqueline Ki-Zerbo

Jacqueline Ki-Zerbo née Coulibaly (23 September 1933 – 15 December 2015) was a Malian women's rights activist, pro-democracy activist and activist in the endogenous development of Africa. She was involved in the popular uprising of January 3, 1966 in which she led a group of women and young girls who marched on the presidency with inscription such as “water, bread and democracy for the people." She was awarded the Paul G. Hoffmann Award for outstanding work in national and international development in 1984.

Background Ki-Zerbo was born in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to Lazarre Coulibaly and Gertrude Traore. Ki-Zerbo began her post-secondary studies at Collége des Jeunes Filles in Bamako and completed her baccalaureate at École Normale de Rifisque in Dakar, Senegal. Ki-Zerbo received her license in English at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1956. She married Joseph Ki-Zerbo in 1956. They had three sons and two daughters together.

Ki-Zerbo was employed as an English teacher at the Lycée Philippe Zinda Kaboré in Ouagadougou in 1961 and became the director of the Normal Course for Young Girls (since renamed Nelson Mandela High School) in Ouagadougou, until 1974, when she served the trade union press Voices of the Teachers. In the 1960s, she joined Guinea to support Ahmed Sékou Touré. Ki-Zerbo joined the Teacher's Training School for Girls in Burkina Faso as the first female African Director. While there, she pushed for legislation that would allow pregnant girls to continue their studies at school.

Ki-Zerbo died on December 15, 2015, in Ouagadougou. She was buried in Toma in the province of Nayala.

Honours

1984: Paul G. Hoffmann Prize for outstanding work in national and international development 1994: Nominated as one of The American Biographical Institute's Most Admired Men and Women. 2008: Decorated as a knight of the National Order of Merit in Arts, Letters and Communication with the “oral and written literature” staple as part of the Ouagadougou International Book Fair (FILO)