The Félix Houphouët-Boigny Foundation for Peace Research (FHB Foundation) hosted a training seminar for a colony of student organizations from March 10 to 12, 2021 in Yamoussoukro. This opportunity was created by the Club of Icons of Peace (IP) of the University Nangui Abrogoua to promote the culture of peace in the university environment. It is the second of its kind in partnership with the FHB Foundation and other student structures such as the JEC (Jeunesse Estudiantine Catholique), the AEEMCI (Association des Elèves et Etudiants Musulmans de Côte d’Ivoire), the REPCI (Réseau des Etudiants pour la Paix en Côte d’Ivoire), the Club de Paix de l’Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé de Daloa and the Maison de l’Etudiantin or the Conseil Estudiantin de l’Université Nangui Abrogoua.
The theme of this seminar was: “Student commitment, associative life, democratic culture and values of peace in a reconciled society”. It was animated by Dr. Diénéba DOUMBIA, Director of the Research Department of the FHB Foundation. Approached in the form of communications, this seminar aimed to promote the civic behavior of leaders of youth associations to enable them to play their role as pro-active contributors in the preservation of a peaceful social climate.
This type of initiative is intended to mitigate the turmoil and leadership conflicts in the university environment while equipping participants with techniques and values for peace, a major concept of the policy of the first Ivorian president Felix Houphouet-Boigny. Dr. Doumbia, in her inaugural speech, recalled that the institution named after the late illustrious man has as its main mission to establish a culture of peace nationwide while equipping young women and men with the skills necessary to establish peace. She added in these terms: “Social commitment is a school of life to refocus the child or young person on the essential”.
Moreover, this seminar is positioned as an opportunity for the various structures represented in the sense that it will provide each one with a practical experience of the culture of peace in their environment of intervention, the university institution. This was pointed out by the president of the IP, Mr. Drissa Tionhonkélé SORO in an address to the participants. Between communications, panels, sharing of experiences and debates of ideas, participants were able to live the experience desired by the latter.
Note that a first initiative had linked the Icons of Peace to the FHB Foundation in 2019 on the theme: “Associative life, leadership and culture of peace”.