Vanessa Koutouan (born 1988) is an Ivorian women's rights activist. She is the director of the Rural Center Ilomba, an educational initiative in the Bingerville area of the Ivory Coast that promotes the education of girls.
Vanessa Koutouanwas born in Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast, the youngest of seven siblings, and the daughter of deeply Christian parents. [1]
Koutouan earned a bachelor's degree from the Institute of Sciences and Techniques of Communication at the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan, followed by a master's degree in hotel management and pedagogy in Italy. [2]
She is the director of the Rural Center Ilomba, an educational initiative in the Bingerville area of the Ivory Coast that promotes the education of girls because families in this country used to priorize the education of boys over girls. [2]
Alvaro del Portillo encouraged local communities to create a dispensary in 1989. [2] About 100 women at any one time are educated there, with an emphasis on vocational training and literacy, and they provide health education in rural areas, especially for women. [2]
In 2015 the dispensary had one doctor, two nurses and one midwife to care for 700 patients par week. There was also a secondary school and the continuing education unit providing training for young people without financial means. [3]
Vanessa Koutouan believes that poverty in the Ivory Coast could be eradicated within a few years if young girls were given the opportunity to study and did not have to work in the fields all their lives. She denounces the situation of women in the rural area of the Ivory Coast, where there is extreme poverty and analphabetism, difficulty to sustain oneself with sufficient food, early motherhood and AIDS because of the lack of hygiene and food. [4] [5]
On 3 March 2015, Koutouan received the annual Harambee "African Woman" in a ceremony in Madrid, "for the promotion and equality of African women". [3]
The Ébrié Lagoon lies in Ivory Coast, separated for almost all of its length from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow coastal strip. The 130 km (80 mi) long lagoon is linked to the sea by the Vridi Canal, while the Comoë River flows into it. The lagoon averages 4 km in width, and 5 m (16 ft) in depth. Abidjan and towns such as Grand Bassam, Bingerville, Jacqueville, Attécoubé, and Tiagba lie on the lagoon.
Women in Ivory Coast formed less than half the country's population in 2003. Their social roles and opportunities have changed since the time of French colonialism.
Abidjan is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city proper in Africa, after Lagos, Cairo, Kinshasa, Dar es Salaam, and Johannesburg. A cultural crossroads of West Africa, Abidjan is characterised by a high level of industrialisation and urbanisation. It also is one of the most populous French-speaking cities in Africa.
Félix-Houphouët-Boigny International Airport, also known as Port Bouët Airport, is located 16 km south east of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is the largest airport in the country for air traffic. The airport is the main hub of the national airline Air Côte d'Ivoire. Named after the first president of Ivory Coast, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, this international airport is directly connected currently to four different airports in Europe and to many destinations within the rest of Africa and the Middle East. The airport is served by over 20 airlines, covering more than 36 destinations.
Mass media in Ivory Coast is controlled by the government. Audiovisual communications are regulated by the Conseil national de la communication audiovisuelle (CNCA), an administrative arm of the national government.
Dominique Claudine Ouattara née Nouvian is the current First Lady of Ivory Coast, married to President Alassane Ouattara.
Prostitution in Ivory Coast is legal, but associated activities, such as soliciting, pandering or running brothels, are illegal. Sex workers report law enforcement is sparse and corrupt. Police sometimes harass sex workers and demand bribes or sexual favours. Transgender prostitutes are often targeted by police and soldiers and subjected to violence. It was estimated in 2014 that there were 9,211 prostitutes in the country.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations is scheduled to be the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament is scheduled to be hosted by Ivory Coast, the second time the country would host the competition. The Confederation of African Football initially changed the dates of the tournament to June and July rather than the usual January, which first came into play in the 2019 tournament. It would have allowed the tournament to not conflict with other major tournaments, as well as allowing big name players to play for their nations in the tournament without missing games for their European club side.
Abdoulaye Diarrassouba, also known as Aboudia, is an American-Ivorian contemporary artist based in Brooklyn, New York, and who works from his studios in Abidjan and New York City. He was born on October 21, 1983 in Côte d'Ivoire, and graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Bingerville in 2003. In 2005, he graduated from the Institut des Arts in Abidjan. He first reached an international audience during the siege of Abidjan in 2011, when the conflict came close to his studio. Some of his works has been exhibited in Basel, Miami, New York, Singapore, and Art Central in Hong Kong. He has also done various solo shows with galleries in New York, London, Barcelona, Copenhagen and more. In 2012, he collaborated with Ivorian artist Frédéric Bruly Bouabré on producing a unique series of paintings exhibited in Abidjan. In 2017 Abdoulaye collaborated with British internationally acclaimed painter Christian Furr, producing works between New York, London and Abidjan.
The Abidjan Metro is a 37.5-kilometre (23.3 mi) rapid transit network under construction serving the Ivorian economic capital of Abidjan. Construction of the network started in November 2017, with the beginning of passenger service originally expected in 2022–2023, but has since been delayed to at least 2025. Initially planned to comprise a single line with 13 stations undertaken by Bouygues-Dongsan, a French-Korean consortium, the project has since then been expanded to a single north–south line with 20 stations, financed 100% by France and built solely by three French groups after the withdrawal of the South Korean partners from the consortium in October 2017.
María Presentación Salas Larrazábal, also known as Mary Salas, was a Spanish writer and journalist who specialized in adult education and was a pioneer of women's laity. She was linked to Catholic Action and was the first president of the NGO Manos Unidas. A key figure in the struggle for equality, in 1960, she co-founded the Seminar on Women's Sociological Studies, the precursor of modern gender studies in Spain, and in 1986 promoted the Women's Studies Forum that she chaired.
Ezinne Ukagwu is a Nigerian economist and director of the Iroto Rural Development Centre, a women's capacity building centre in Ogún, Nigeria.
Trifonia Melibea Obono is a novelist, political scientist, academic and LGBTQI+ activist. Her novel La Bastarda is the first novel by a female Equatorial Guinean writer to be translated into English.
Eliane Ekra was Chief of the Ministry of Health and AIDS Control in the Republic of the Ivory Coast from 2013 to 2018.
Ramata Ly-Bakayoko is an Ivorian academic and government official. She served as Ivory Coast's Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research from 2016 to 2018. She was appointed Minister of Women, Families, and Children in 2018. She was appointed permanent delegate of Côte d'Ivoire to UNESCO with residence in Paris on September 8, 2021.
Simone Kaya was an Ivorian writer and nurse. She is considered a pioneer among women writers in Ivory Coast, the first woman to enter the country's literary sphere.
Asha Ismail is a Kenyan human rights activist. She is the founder and president of Save a Girl, Save a Generation, an organisation whose mission is to end female genital mutilation, the dowry system, forced marriage and other abuses against women in Africa and Asia.
Mabel Lozano is a Spanish writer, model, film director, film and television actress and activist in defense of women's rights. In her work she denounces the sexual exploitation of women through prostitution and trafficking. In 2021 she received the Goya Award for best documentary short film for Biografía del cadáver de una mujer.
Celine Tendobi is a Congolese doctor of obstetrics and gynecology with specialty in gynecology and ultrasound.