Africare-Cote d'Ivoire

History of Africare in Côte d’Ivoire:

Africare began to work in Cote d’Ivoire in the late 1990’s, managing humanitarian assistance programs for Liberian refugees who had fled their own country to the western region of Cote d’Ivoire. Africare later established a country office in 2001.

After establishing a country office, Africare worked in the Denguelé region implementing the Programme d' Agriculture, Devéloppement d'Entreprises et de Santé (PADES), a USDA-supported project that improved socio-economic conditions of rural communities in the region by assisting communities in increasing agricultural production, developing local infrastructure and accessing credit. The project also addressed STD and HIV/AIDS prevention through public education activities, which resulted in the creation of an AIDS awareness network comprised of eight local institutions. The network subsequently took over HIV/AIDS prevention work by traveling throughout the region, educating communities about HIV/AIDS.

Africare also provided community-level emergency response assistance in 2002 in response to the country’s political conflict. With support from UNDP, Africare provided resettlement, health and other assistance to conflict-affected communities in the Odienne department in the northwest of the country. In 2005, Africare ceased activities and closed its offices in Cote d’Ivoire as a result of the completion of the project activities and the civil disturbances. However, Africare, as one of the few organizations that provided support to communities and the government during the political crisis, is recognized by the National government for its work with distressed communities throughout the country.

 

Africare-Côte d’Ivoire Today

 

Africare currently provides assistance to the country through the health component of the Mars Partnership for African Cocoa-Communities of Tomorrow (Mars/iMPACT) that is being implemented in the Soubre department. This project is funded by Mars, inc. and is composed of the following components: Agriculture, Community mobilization and fight against child labor, Environment and certification, Education and Health respectively implemented by STCP, ICI, Rainforest Alliance, IFESH and Africare.

 

Country Profile: Cote d'Ivoire

REGION: West Africa
CAPITAL CITY: Yamoussoukro
POPULATION: 21,058,798
LAND AREA: 318,003 sq km (197,598 sq miles)

For the first three decades after independence, Cote d'Ivoire (or, Ivory Coast) was viewed as a model of stability and developed economically into one of tropical Africa's most prosperous countries. During the 1990s, Cote d'Ivoire received thousands of refugees from the Liberian civil war. Late in that same decade, internal strife erupted as well. A peace agreement took effect in 2003. Today, however, ethnic and religious tensions — between Muslims in the north and other Ivorians in the south — remain high, and human and economic development has suffered as a result. Cote d'Ivoire is the world's leading cocoa producer (neighboring Ghana is the second-leading producer of cocoa); in addition, it is among the largest producers and exporters of coffee and palm oil. Nearly 70 percent of the Ivorian people are engaged in agriculture and related activities. Deforestation has become a major ecological problem: most of the country's forests, once among the largest in West Africa, have been heavily logged.

   

Country Stats Life expectancy: 47.4 years (USA: 77.9) Under-5 child mortality: 195/1,000 live births (USA: 7/1,000) HIV prevalence, ages 15-49: [3.2 - 4.5]% (USA: [0.4 - 1.0]%) Physicians per 100,000 people: 12 (USA: 256) People undernourished: 13% (USA: 0%) People with access to safe drinking water: 84% (USA: 100%) Adult literacy: 48.7% (USA: 99%) Gross National Income per Capita : $1,700 (USA: $41,890) People living on less than $1 a day: 14.8% (USA: 0%) (HIV prevalence statistics, UNAIDS. All other statistics, 2007/2008 Human Development Report, UNDP)

        

(Updated, June 2010)