Africa - Western
Côte d’Ivoire ranks 162 out of 189 on the Human Development Index (HDI). CARE International’s work in Côte d’Ivoire is focused on women’s empowerment, social cohesion, clean water, and the climate emergency.
CARE International first began working in Côte d'Ivoire in 2000 as part of a region-wide effort to fight AIDS. Since then, political instability and violence has displaced many people and increased humanitarian needs.
Today, CARE International's work focuses on women's empowerment, social cohesion, clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, and resilience to the climate crisis. We also work with cocoa farmers to help improve the livelihoods of producers, promote safe labor practices, and diversify sources of income.
Since 2020, CARE International has been responding to COVID-19 in Côte d'Ivoire. Response efforts include spreading information about COVID-19 prevention methods, distributing cash transfer, providing clean water and sanitation, and setting up call centers to respond to gender-based violence.
Since 2008, CARE and Cargill's 34 joint projects in 13 countries have reached more than 4.6 million people, 600,000 people directly and 4 million indirectly. More than 2.4 million of those reached are women.
“The (VSLA) training showed us how to properly manage our money. We discovered we were wasting money and not working together to find the right solution. This is when I decided that my wife would be the best person to look after the money and organize the family expenses.”
CARE, MARS, and the women of Cote d’Ivoire partnered to change that Women for Change ran in Cote d’Ivoire from 2015-2018 with the generous support of MARS chocolate. With $711,000 we reached 4,900 people directly and 24,500 people indirectly.
Midwives play an essential role as Frontline Health Workers in providing access to sexual and reproductive health and rights and how they act as agents of change. However, their situation in the crisis and post-conflict contexts of Iraq and Côte d'Ivoire shows how they often compensate for the shortcomings of resource-poor and sometimes dysfunctional health systems through high level of personal commitment.
The COVID-19 pandemic in West Africa is currently exacerbating socio-economic issues, with women bearing the largest burden of caring for their families while also seeking to lead communities in prevention and adaptation.
In FY2023, CARE worked around the world, contributing to saving lives, fighting poverty, and increasing social justice.
