BACKGROUND
After the decolonization of Ivory Coast, the country enjoyed strong economic and social growth, before entering a period of stagnation in the 1980s. In 2002, a coup attempt developed into a full-scale rebellion and in 2011, the results of the presidential election plunged the county into chaos. As a result of the war, many children were separated from their families, displaced, traumatized, dropped out of the school and forced into vagrancy.
To tackle this situation, the Ivorian government launched a ‘National Program to Develop and Promote Sport for Peace Education’, which aims to use sport as a means of fostering a culture of democracy. In February 2008, the government, via the national sports movement, requested Peace and Sport’s cooperation.