Thanks to these trainings, today I have the courage to speak with and for my sisters in front of a crowd. This empowered me to voice my opinion during a meeting with local authorities in a collected and eloquent manner, without trembling. When I finished, I was applauded, and I felt so proud.”

– Olga, Duékoué Community Leader

In 2012, the OTI/AECOM Côte d’Ivoire Transition Initiative began engaging key stakeholders in Duékoué, a town decimated by the 2010-2011 post-election violence and struggling to mend the community ties and interethnic relationships that had been strained since the crisis began in 2002. Two, three-week interventions led by seasoned media trainers from EAI’s Niger office worked with community youth and radio stations to provide critical information promoting interethnic understanding and healing at this critical juncture.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES:

Ethnic tensions and post-election violence in Côte d’Ivoire led EAI, in partnership with OTI and AECOM, to bring community dialogue through radio to Duékoué.

The series of complementary interventions was comprised of training and workshops with community leaders and staff from the community radio station La Voix de Guémon. The goal was to create strong relationships and lasting engagement platforms that promote dialogue and discussion in the town of Duékoué.

La Voix de Guémon radio staff were trained on the installation and use of the Frontline SMS listener interaction platform and participated in a two-stage radio production seminar to improve their mixing, recording, editing, and broadcast capacities. Additionally, leadership trainings designed to cement local engagement with the radio and strengthen the reach and relevance of its programming included a Leadership and Community Reporter training for 15 local youth, a Listening Club Facilitator training for 10 men and women, and a women’s leadership and conflict mitigation training for 11 members of the Coalition of Women Leaders.

At the conclusion of the project, EAI facilitated a day of exchange and relationship-building between local authorities, radio staff, and newly-trained leaders to recap lessons learned and prioritize subjects for future community radio broadcasts.

IMPACT & REACH OF THIS PROJECT:

The project leveraged the power of community dialogue and local media to reduce the negative impact of rumors on Duékoué’s delicate inter-ethnic relations and improve stability, resilience, and inter-ethnic relations within the community. Following EAI’s interventions, Radio Voix du Guémon produced high-quality programming drawn from the work of community reporters and SMS listener feedback. These broadcasts were strengthened by regular meetings of radio listening and discussion clubs and helped to reinforce relationships between women’s, community, and municipal leaders.