Balla has over twenty years of experience in Africa both in development and humanitarian relief, and with the private sector. Prior to joining CARE, Balla held different positions with private sector like ExxonMobil, and international NGOs like AED (now FHI 360) as Country Representative in Mali and recently with Plan International as Country Director in Mali, when he briefly left CARE.
Balla is no stranger to CARE, as over the last 15 years, he held various senior leadership positions, including Chief of Party in Sierra Leone, Assistant Country Director, Country Director in Cote d’Ivoire; Managing Deputy Regional Director for Mano River (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea) and on temporary duty assignment as MDRD for the Great Lakes. More recently, he has been CARE Country Director in Mali.
He is post graduated from the University of Auvergne Clermont-Ferrand 1 (France) in business and tax law and he holds a Master Degree in Law from the University of Siena (Italy).