CÔTE D’IVOIRE
AT A GLANCE
Official Name: Republic of Côte d'Ivoire
Chief of State: President Laurent Gbagbo
Next Election: undetermined
Capital: Yamoussoukro
Population: 21.08 million (UN, 2009)
Independence: 1960 from France
Human Development Index: 163 of 182 countries (UN, 2009)
Global Gender Gap Index: not available
Gross National Income per capita: US$980 (World Bank, 2009)
Strengthening Civil Society Organizations
Status: Complete, 2010
Local Organization: National Governance and Capacity Building Secretariat (SNGRC)
Canadian Expert: Yves Poulin
Many civil society organizations seeking to prevent conflict and promote human rights and democracy have emerged as Côte d’Ivoire, after lengthy conflict, begins its reconstruction. Longawaited elections have been rescheduled for mid-2010. But the funding and planning capacity of these NGOs is weak.
The National Governance and Capacity-Building Secretariat, (SNGRC) is responsible for producing national policy on governance post-conflict. They requested assistance from Deployment for Democratic Development to strengthen civil society organizations to better achieve peace, reconciliation, and democracy.
Yves Poulin, Canadian expert in organizational capacity building, provided guidelines, tools and training on the design and implementation of human rights projects. The focus was on data collection and documentation, and building the capacity of SNGRC and NGOs to obtain additional resources. Fifty-seven people, including 23 women, are now trainers of civil society. Seven proposals have been submitted to donor agencies – to combat sexual violence against women, to establish a fund to finance graduate studies, to support schooling girls in rural areas, to create a legal clinic, to reintegrate ex-combatants into society, and to promote voting.
"My planning mission to Abidjan helped me to realize that DDD can effectively contribute to strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations in the development and management of projects based on results." Yves Poulin