Hélène
Helbig de Balzac

Hélène Helbig de Balzac is a Senior Analyst working for the Foundation’s Docket initiative. She is an investigator on supply chains, trafficking networks and organized crimes specialist in conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRAs). She has more than 15 years of international development experience with a focus on good governance, conflict prevention, and natural resources management in sub-Saharan Africa (Burkina Faso, Burundi, DRC, Ivory Coast, Mali, Rwanda). Hélène has collaborated with various firms and NGOs to develop innovative strategies for mineral supply chain due diligence and has carried out several investigations on the illicit trade of gold and other organized crimes occurring in West and Central Africa and the UAE. She has established a wide network of contacts amongst private sector businesses, government officials, law enforcement agencies, journalists, international organizations, and civil society actors involved in the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector. Hélène holds a Master’s degree in sociology from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and another in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics (LSE). She is fluent in French and English and has some knowledge of Italian.