Côte d’Ivoire

Our work in Côte d’Ivoire largely focuses on mobilizing communities to engage in their children’s education and strengthening institutions that support education. We focus in particular on improving early-grade reading and math, youth and adult functional literacy, school management, early childhood education, secondary education, and curriculum development.

Providing quality organizational and technical capacity-building support to local NGOs and civil society organizations across various sectors is a critical component of our work. With our unique approach to inclusive community participation, we are a leader in community mobilization in Côte d’Ivoire and across West Africa. 

Our work in Côte d’Ivoire began in 2011 with the Empowering Cocoa Households with Opportunities and Education Solutions (ECHOES) Program, an expansion of a partnership with the World Cocoa Foundation. Through that initiative, we partnered with local NGOs to develop curricula for community-led literacy classes for adults and out-of-school youth in rural cocoa farming communities. Since then, we have partnered with a variety of cocoa industry stakeholders to engage in a variety of types of programming to contribute to national efforts to combat child labor in cocoa production. These programs have ranged from women’s empowerment through functional literacy and income generation support, to access to maternal and child health services, early childhood care and education, and improved early grade reading and math instruction.