Ramata Ly-Bakayoko

Ramata Ly-Bakayoko (born 29 June 1955) is an Ivorian academic and government official. She served as Ivory Coast's Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research from 2016 to 2018. She was appointed Minister of Women, Families, and Children in 2018. She was appointed permanent delegate of Côte d'Ivoire to UNESCO with residence in Paris on September 8, 2021.

Biography Ly-Bakayoko was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in 1955. She earned degrees in dental surgery from Paris Diderot University in 1980 and in dental science from Paris Descartes University in 1985. She headed the pediatric dentistry department at the University of Cocody (now Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny) in Abidjan, later becoming vice-dean of the faculty of dentistry, then vice-president of the university. She was the first woman to hold this position.

Awards and honours In 2018, Ly-Bakayoko became the first Ivorian member of the French Académie des sciences d'outre-mer.