Côte d’Ivoire

Côte d’Ivoire was torn apart in September 2002, when conflict broke out between the government and rebel forces in the north. The country remains in a state of flux between war and peace. During the fighting more than 500,000 people were displaced and many children separated from their families. Child and maternal mortality rates are high: one in ten children dies before their fifth birthday.

  • We're improving access to quality education for 42,597 children
  • We're supporting 2,742 orphans and vulnerable children
  • We're protecting 5,919 children from sexual exploitation and abuse

Save the Children in Côte d'Ivoire

We've worked in Côte d'Ivoire since 1996. We’re providing free healthcare and medicines to children and pregnant women at the health centres we support. And we’re working with communities to find ways to protect vulnerable children from violence, exploitation and abuse. Last year 64,926 children benefited from our activities.

We’re educating children and making schools safer

The civil war interrupted schooling for more than 700,000 children. Many schools were abandoned and looted, and teachers fled. There is now a severe lack of trained staff and basic equipment, and many children are subject to violence and abuse when they’re at school.

We’re working to get children back into school and to make schools safer places for children to learn and play. Through our Rewrite the Future programme we’ve provided a good quality primary education for 42,597 of the most vulnerable children.

We’re also developing codes of conduct with teachers, pupils and school inspectors, and these are now in place in 875 schools

We’re caring for children affected by HIV and AIDS and others without parental care

It’s estimated there are 1.2 million orphans in Côte d’Ivoire, and 420,000 of them lost their parents to AIDS. These children are among the most vulnerable in any community, as they have to fend for themselves and their brothers or sisters.

We’ve helped 2,742 orphans and vulnerable children (1,310 boys and 1,101 girls) in the regions of 18 Montagnes, Moyen Cavally and Denguélé.

We’re helping to provide psychosocial support through regular home visits by 120 community volunteers and we’re providing legal support for children who need to obtain their birth certificate so they can claim their rights and entitlements. In total, we’ve trained 278 service providers on appropriate care and support for orphans and vulnerable children.

In 2009, our activities will result in improved care and access to services for 5,000 orphans and vulnerable children.

We’re protecting children from sexual violence and exploitation

Many children became separated from their families during the war and many were forcibly recruited by armed groups as soldiers, messengers or ‘wives’. Child trafficking is also becoming more common, and many children are also involved in harmful labour, working on coffee and cocoa plantations or in domestic work.

We’ve helped local communities set up child protection committees (CPCs) in more than 40 villages and we’ve run awareness-raising sessions with 1,391 people, of which 918 were children (and 463 were girls).

With funding from Comic Relief, we’ve also started a three-year programme of activities aimed at equipping 3,500 at-risk children with life skills training combined with income-generating opportunities to make them less vulnerable to sexual exploitation as a means of earning cash.

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