Côte d'Ivoire - Overview 

Capital: Yamoussoukro
Area: 322,000 km²
Population: 17.3 million (July 2005)
Ethnic groups: Akan, Agni-Baule, Kru, Malinke, Mande, Senufo
Official language(s): French
Religion(s): Islam, Christian faith, indigenous beliefs
Currency: 1 CFA franc = 100 centimes

SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country

Back in 1962, a French priest named Father Martin started a scheme to help the children in need in the surrounding areas of the city of Abidjan. The situation in the country at the time was not good as traditional family structures were crumbling, unemployment was high and more and more people were fleeing the countryside for the big cities. Father Martin started by building shelters for 15 orphans. Later he received help from the government and the wife of the future president of the country with a plot of land situated in Abobo-Gare, about 15 km outside of Abidjan.

He was then able to build "The Village of Friendship" for these children. The first children moved into this village in January 1969. One year later, in 1970, Father Martin met with Hermann Gmeiner and they discussed the possibility of working together. As a result Father Martin decided to join the SOS Children's Village Organisation with his project in 1971. Thus, SOS Children's Village Abobo-Gare became the first SOS Children's Village in Africa.

In 1980, SOS Children's Village co-workers in Côte d'Ivoire became aware of the dreadful situation of unwanted and rejected children in the Aboisso region in the southeast of the country. Therefore, a second SOS Children's Village in Côte d'Ivoire was constructed there between 1981 and 1983. It was named "The Village of Brotherhood". The first children were able to move into the village in February 1983.

An SOS Children's Village Association was founded as the legal body for the organisation's activities in Côte d'Ivoire in March 1982. Both the SOS Children's Villages in Abobo-Gare and Aboisso were extended by kindergartens and schools in the following years. The reason for this was a lack of kindergarten places for small children and schools in the vicinities of the SOS Children's Villages. These projects were completed by 1994. They are mainly attended by children who are not from the SOS Children's Villages and thereby have been very effective in raising the standard of education in the neighbourhood.

The first youth flats were built within the confines of SOS Children's Village Abobo-Gare in 1980. Later youth housing facilities, farming and other projects to help the youths become independent were set up in Aboisso. A military coup in September 2002 worsened the political situation in the country. Despite a peace agreement between the government and opposition parties the state can still be considered as unstable. Starting in 2004 SOS Children's Villages Côte d'Ivoire took various steps to assist the needy population, especially persons affected by HIV/Aids.