Côte d’Ivoire

Overview

Côte d'Ivoire has taken great initial strides to recover from the post-electoral crisis that shook the nation in 2011, yet significant challenges remain. Key among them are revitalizing the agricultural sector and addressing youth unemployment.

Côte d'Ivoire is the world's largest producer and exporter of cocoa, and a significant producer and exporter of cashews, coffee, rubber and palm oil. Seventy percent of Ivoirians depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, but yields remain low and incomes are highly vulnerable to fluctuations in international commodity prices. Meanwhile, 25 percent of the nation’s under-40 youth is unemployed, threatening peace and stability in the resurgent state. The government has set an ambitious goal of creating one million jobs by 2016. TechnoServe is working in partnership with the public and private sector to sustainably increase the incomes of small-scale cashew and cocoa farmers. In parallel, TechnoServe has entered the second phase of its youth-focused business plan competition, which is catalyzing youth employment through enterprise.

Impact

Since 2009, TechnoServe has executed three business plan competitions that have supported young entrepreneurs to launch or grow 55 businesses and create nearly 500 jobs. It has linked over 3,000 smallholder cocoa farmers to yield doubling inputs, and bolstered the cashew processing industry to generate $5 million in new revenues for smallholder growers.

On The Ground

Projects

 

Technical Assistance Facility

TechnoServe serves as the manager of the Technical Assistance Facility (TAF), which supports the African Agriculture... Fund, a private equity fund, to address food security challenges across Africa. TAF provides technical assistance to small- and medium-sized enterprises invested in by the African Agriculture Fund, and improves linkages between enterprises and smallholder outgrowers.

Partners

African Agriculture Fund, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, European Commission, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Italian Development Cooperation

Tags

Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe
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Promoting Entrepreneurship

Representing 90 percent of the population, youths under 40 face an unemployment rate of 25 percent. These 5 million... unemployed youths are joined by half a million new job seekers each year, threatening to destabilize the nation’s road to peace and economic recovery. In 2010, TechnoServe launched a business plan competition to empower young entrepreneurs to start businesses and create sustainable jobs. The competition — Un Projet, Des Emplois, J’y Crois (I Believe in Jobs) — targets recent graduates in Abidjan and Bouaké, and has supported 260 entrepreneurs to start 55 businesses creating nearly 500 jobs. Already these businesses achieved turnover of nearly $1.3 million in 2011 and 2012 and have attracted over $0.5 million in private investment.

Partners

World Bank State and Peace Building Fund

Tags

Côte d’Ivoire
 

Supporting the Cashew Sector

As part of the African Cashew Initiative, TechnoServe is working with the German Agency for International Cooperation... (GIZ) to improve profitability and competitiveness of the cashew value chain in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin and Burkina Faso. TechnoServe is working with value chain actors to improve processing, market linkages and the enabling business environment. As a result of TechnoServe’s work, more than 240,000 farmers have received training and generated an estimated $5 million in additional revenue from improved cashew quality and increased quantity. Processors have sold approximately 3,090 tons of kernels worth $29 million; procured approximately 16,000 tons of raw cashew nuts worth $7.4 million from 19,600 farmers/producers; and employed an additional 3,100 workers.

Partners

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Tags

Côte d’Ivoire
 

Improving Livelihoods through Cocoa

TechnoServe is a key implementer in the Cocoa Livelihoods Program, which seeks to double the incomes of one third of... West African cocoa farming households within 10 years. Inputs, which can double cocoa farmers’ yields, will play a critical role. Unfortunately, most Ivoirian farmers cannot afford inputs without loans, and banks are reticent to lend to them. Since 2009, TechnoServe has trained 3,300 Ivoirian farmers on input application. By brokering innovative risk sharing agreements between cocoa exporters, input suppliers and lenders, TechnoServe has facilitated credit for 3,000 farmers, who have maintained an impressive repayment rate of more than 95 percent, even during the political crisis. Based on this success, TechnoServe recently received funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development to pilot additional credit models in Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria under the African Cocoa Initiative.

Partners

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, U.S. Agency for International Development

Tags

Côte d’Ivoire

Blog Posts

September 28, 2012

Photo of the Week: Higher Incomes from Cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire

In Divo, Côte d’Ivoire, cocoa is critical to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. TechnoServe is helping farmers to realize the full value of their crops.

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September 13, 2012

World Bank President Visits TechnoServe Program in Côte d’Ivoire

In his first overseas trip as World Bank Group president, Jim Yong Kim visited Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa last week. During his time in Côte d’Ivoire, Kim visited a youth training center, where he met a group of young entrepreneurs who are receiving training through a TechnoServe business plan competition.

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July 13, 2012

Photo of the Week: Cashews Spark Development in Côte d’Ivoire

Workers at the Agri-Business Company cashew factory in Touba, Côte d'Ivoire, shell cashew nuts. TechnoServe provides technical assistance to the factory as part of the African Cashew Initiative (ACi), which aims to help 150,000 small-scale farmers generate an additional $15 million in income each year.

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More Posts

Contact

TechnoServe
Côte d'Ivoire

6 rue Paris Village Abidjan Plateau
Tél. +225 20 21 49 15
Fax. +225 20 21 28 18

Désiré D. Bankole

Country Director
dbankole@tns.org

Resources

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