PACEM working for non-violent elections in Côte d’Ivoire

In the runner up to the 2025 presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire, a series of workshops were organized by Réseau Shalom de Transformation de Conflits et de Réconciliation (REST-COR) a peace-centered organization through the assistance of PACEM ETS. The project brought together stakeholders in the electoral process such as government departments, security services, religious leaders, civil society organizations, youth and women groups and traditional leaders.

This project was run for 6 months. There following were the activities carried out under this initiative. (1) “Prevention of electoral violence” with I l youth association leaders from Agbayaté; (2) “Conflict management in the family” with 76 beneficiaries of the Association of Catholic Women, AFEC; (3) “Prevention of electoral violence” with 36 leaders of Justice, Peace and Environment commissions of Yopougon Diocese; (4) “Peace maker in family and community” with 87 leaders of movements and associations of the St Laurent parish in Kouté; (5) “Peace Culture in electoral period” with 59 village chiefs, leaders of communities, movements, associations and NGOs of Yopougon; (6) “Electoral non-violence and social cohesion” with 72 youth leaders from the Bangolo department. We carried out awareness-raising activities before, during and after the elections through videos and messages on our social networks (Rest-Cor-Youtube; Facebook; Linkedin Mass awareness campaigns and visits of prospections were also carried out in Bangolo and Abidjan.

The beneficiaries were active in their areas, and some carried out multiple preventive activities during the electoral process. Bangolo youth leaders were the most active after training with good results of peaceful elections.