Lively, quick-footed, and multilingual are just a few of the words that come to mind when colleagues think of Brigitte Syan, who joined Living Goods in June 2022 as our Advocacy and Partnership Manager in Burkina Faso. She’s charged with leading our partnership building portfolio with government and civil society stakeholders, and she’s playing a vital role supporting the MoH to bring to life the country’s first community level digital health system.

Brigitte is excited about working with Living Goods because of our proven impact over the years and our strategic direction—collaborating with governments to deliver life-saving health services at the community level. “This collaborative approach with the MoH in Burkina Faso guarantees the sustainability of our approaches,” she says.

When asked what she enjoys the most about her work, Brigitte says: “When I wake up every day, I’m eager to go out there and have interactions with health authorities about how to improve the community health system in Burkina Faso. That fires me up.”

Brigitte is one of the 20+ staff who were hired into roles in our Burkina Faso office this year. She has had the opportunity to meet with the rest of the team in the office but is also grateful for the flexible working environment at Living Goods, where she can work from home some days.

A lawyer by training, Brigitte is also an advocate of women and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health, and has more than 12 years of work experience in several international NGOs. In her career, she is most proud of contributing to improving protections for the rights of women and girls in Africa, particularly in Burkina Faso.

“When I wake up every day, I’m eager to go out there and have interactions with health authorities about how to improve the community health system in Burkina Faso. That fires me up.”

Outside of work, Brigitte dedicates time to support activities that advance women’s rights. Looking to the future, Brigitte says: “I hope that my advocacy work will help create a conducive environment for the digitization of community health and institutionalization of the DESC approach in the health system in Burkina Faso.”