Côte d’Ivoire: ‘We represent the first phase of Ivorian returnees’ new lives’
World Food Programme field monitor Minta Koné is welcoming the returnees of the west of Ivory Coast
Interview by Marie Dasylva
“The COVID-19 health crisis and the quarantine we had to observe for a month affected me. It was difficult to get to the sites, and we had to conduct the follow-ups by phone. I could not wait to get back into the field.
“I joined the World Food Programme in 2017. I am from the north of Côte d’Ivoire but my duty station is Man, in the west. I learned about WFP at the Felix Houphouët Boigny University in Abidjan, where I was a research student in sociology.
“I love the human contact that comes with my work — being on sites with people we support, empathizing with their challenges, helping where we can and listening to them.
“That is a daily motivation in itself. My day-to-day role is to monitor and evaluate field activities for the western region of Côte d’Ivoire where we work in 104 villages.
“There are two of us monitoring the activities there and supporting the local NGOs. A key duty is to be there for Ivorian returnees. Many Ivorians fled for safety during the post-election crisis of 2010-11. They went to neighbouring countries and are still returning to Côte d’Ivoire, often having lost everything.
“We welcome them with food kits and cash transfers to meet their urgent food and nutritional needs for three months. Then they are trained in agricultural, poultry and fish farming activities so that they can produce their own food and earn money. WFP also supports 79 public primary schools in the area with its school feeding programme. We have assisted nearly 78,000 refugees since 2013.
“Living in Man, I frequently travel by road, with a driver, to get to the borders of neighbouring countries. Liberia is approximately a four-hour drive, on barely tarred roads, with no mobile reception.
“Our first stop is usually the transit camp, just before the border, where we touch base with our partners, including UNHCR, and the local authorities. Then we go to the border to welcome the convoy of returnees.
“This is a crucial step for returnees coming home after several years. We do our best to guide them — we are the first step in this new phase of their lives. Once past the border, we leave for the transit camp where we will do the cash transfer.
“It’s a lengthy process. The last repatriation I witnessed, we arrived at the transit camp at 14:00, then left to pick up the people from the border and bring them back to the camp. We then began to conduct the necessary inspections of the returnees. By then it was 20:00. It took till midnight to transfer money to the 79 people repatriated that day. It was also necessary to observe the packaging of the food kits provided to people that morning before leaving the camp.
“I remember a pregnant woman who made me laugh. She had been in Guinea for almost nine years and this repatriation was an opportunity for her to see her family again.
“She was pleased that her child would be born not just in Côte d’Ivoire but in her own village, growing up to speak the local dialect, Mahouka.
The COVID-19 health crisis and the quarantine we had to observe for a month affected me. It was difficult to get to the sites, and we had to conduct the follow-ups by phone. I could not wait to get back into the field. Now that this has been possible, I am happy as I feel closer to the the people we serve.”
