Obstacles to Social Cohesion and Dynamics of Youth Violence in Urban Spaces

RESUME E X ECUTIF JUILLET 2015 2 inforinmfoartionmation and and vie viewwss exprresedessed the thereinr liesein e liesntir elyen withtirely those with consul thoseted c onsuland theted author ands .the authors. JUILLET 2015 RESUME EXECUTIF 3 Contents R exécutif 6 Executive Summary Au-delà de la recherche, un travail de rapprochement et de Beyondd rredéconstructionesseeaarrcchh, ,a a w woor rkdesk o of imaginaifr arappprorcorhces..............................................ehmemenetn at nadn dim imagaingianrayr d..............................................ye dcoecnostnrsutcrtuioctnion 9 Au-delà du diagnostic, des actions pour le changement............................................ Beyondd tthhee ddiiaaggnnoossisis, ,a acctitoionns sf ofor rc hchanagneg e 10 The challeLen gdée aih àe raelde:v Aer: ra unpp rrappochreochementment bet wenteeren lesthe au autorithotésri teties and the people The challenge ahead: A rapprochement between the authorities and the people les populations.............................................................................................................................. 11 The electoral context and programmatic urgency The electPoerspectral conivteesx télec andto pralesrog reta murmgenceatic purroggernammatique................................................cy 12 Recommendations and avenues for re�lection RecomRmecommandationsendations and av eetn upisest fesor de re rléectleixionon 14 The bus station and the actors that are operating around it The bus stAautitoourn a nded tlah equestion actors t hdeat laar gea orpe eetra desting ac arteursound qui it y opèrent................................. 14 Around thAeu t“ourEsp desace sEspaces de Disc deus Discussionsion de Ru ede” (REueDR (EDR)..........................................................) (street discussion spaces) 18 Around the “Espaces de Discussion de Rue” (EDR) (street discussion spaces) Around scAhuotourol, i dets tl’école,ransfo rsesma ttrianson faormationsnd the dy etna lam dicynamiques of viole ndece violence.................... 20 Around school, its transformation and the dynamics of violence Within thAeu f aseinmil yde a nlad f amilleits rec eten sestly amutationsdapted fo rrécenms tes ............................................................. 22 Within the family and its recently adapted forms SociopoliAtiucatourl di vdeer lasi tdyiv aersind tqéu sociopolitiqueestions of ide etnt lesity questions d’identité............................ 24 ociopolitical diversity and questions of identity ConditConditionsions of feasi bdeili ftaisabiliy and sutcéc etes s de réussite 26 4 RESUME E X ECUTIF JUILLET 2015 Obstacles to social cohesion and dynamics of youth violence in urban spaces Voices of residents of Abo- bo, Treichville and Yopougon, neighbourhoods in the district of Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) T NE R E T N I E JUILLET 2015 RESUME E X ECUTIF IMAG © 5 Executive Summary he city of Abidjan, along with the forest area of Four main factors that contribute to the constant the west, is the site of much of the socio-political disintegration of social cohesion and feed violence Ttensions and violence that have affected Côte involving youth in the municipalities of Abobo, Treichville d’Ivoire for over a decade. With the country on the and Yopougon were These include: (i) the eve of another election period, Indigo, in partnership limits of the political economy of urban social diversity; with Interpeace, conducted participatory research on (ii) the disintegration identi�ied.of the education system; (iii) the the obstacles to social cohesion and the dynamics of transformation of family structures and the emergence violence involving youth in urban spaces. Co-funded and of new models of social success; and (iv)the struggle for commissioned by UNICEF and UNDP and carried out control of economic spaces such as bus stations. over a six-month period, the inclusive process centred on dialogue, enabling youth to analyze their experiences With regards to the factor, the representatives and perceptions of past cycles of violence and to better from the municipalities of Abobo, Treichville and understand the challenges they face, and also to outline Yopougon highlighted �irstthe fact that since the French possible solutions to curb violence. colonization, their neighbourhoods have been an important social melting pot due to two main factors: This research was conducted following three distinct (i) High migration due to the economic attractiveness sequential phases aimed at creating a climate of safe of the city; and (ii) an urban architecture that promotes and open dialogue, thus ensuring the participation of the mixing of populations based on their socioeconomic legitimate representatives of the community. These characteristics. For several decades however, this social included: (i) facilitating dialogue spaces informed by diversity seems to have been affected by divisionist academic research, and conducting individual interviews trends fuelled by socio-political practices and rhetoric with resource persons from Abobo, Treichville and around population identities. In fact, access to economic Yopougon neighbourhoods; (ii) organizing restitution opportunities in Abidjan has been increasingly marked sessions of the results of the phase with each of by a competition in which some native Ivoirians have felt the three municipalities to ensure that the collected wronged. Social relations have been tainted by issues data collected accurately r �irst the discussions, and regarding “Ivoirité”, i.e. who has the right to from collecting additional elements to strengthen the analysis; the Ivoirian nationality and who should be excluded. The (iii) organizing an Urban Ge�lectsroup meeting that gathered issue has been accompanied by discourse andbene�it practices 70 participants in a space for dialogue for the communal that have generated frustration in the general representatives from the different neighbourhoods who population. The return to multiparty elections in 1993 had not yet had the opportunity to meet, due to political and the competitionsigni�icant that ensued also revived tensions or ethnic reasons, or because of age, gender or social between cohabiting communities. During elections, differences. political actors often stoke the frustrations linked with social identity thus driving people, and particularly The process enabled over 750 participants from different youth, into political violence. sectors of society and from all social groups—two thirds of whom were youth aged from 10 to 34 years—to engage in collective exercise of critical thinking on their context. 6 RESUME E X ECUTIF JUILLET 2015 then transfer to other areas such as politics. In the three «Do not believe that only Ivoirians are xenophobic, racist or municipalities consulted, the research has shown that prone to tribalism. There’s also the foreign communities that student groups have formed to confront each other have these characters. We live in communities; those who come and prove their “territorial control”. Schools have also from the same community, speak the same language. Those challenged each other so as to build up their violent [of] the same locality are a tribe; they do not want anyone to reputations. In such a context, it is perhaps unsurprising approach or will not want to open up to other people. They that the fractures that divide society have been shut themselves up, they live in a closed circle. «KI, 34, ECOWAS transposed into the school environment. The political community, 17/01/2015, Yopougon. struggles proceeding from the backdrop of inherent frustration and resentment have also been introduced via labour movements or student unions. On the other With regards to education, schooling used to be hand, many examples of acts violence have been given considered the main driver of social mobility in Côte by the older participants (teachers) who clash with the d’Ivoire, allowing all children, regardless of their younger ones (students), money and women generally social origin, to from technical training and being at the core of such confrontations. Thus, a whole to have access to diplomas leading to employment ecology of violence appears which is rooted around and opportunities. Yet bene�itfaced with a structural crisis that has within schools, and is fuelled by drug abuse. With such lasted for over three decades, schools have seen their a situation, both the role of the State and of parents are educational function lose legitimacy. As explained by called into question. the young people consulted, schools have become a territory over which some youths ght for control, often to demonstrate their potential for violence which they �i JUILLET 2015 RESUME E X ECUTIF 7 that the engine of social mobility at the same time "When you go to school instead of encouraging you to study retains the ability to be a perpetrator of violence or a they tell you that you have a right to claim. And in this right to clai«mWhen, whe then yo childu bre aisk ,in w htheen womb,you bu rhe/shen, the s obelongsciety ca nton owomen.t stop defence against it, particularly the transport sector, youBut to twhenell yo uhe/she or ask wcomeshy yo uout, br ohe/sheke or b uisr nnoed longer. (...). N oforwa womendays which remains a “jungle” with its own codes and rules. wealone. teach He/shea man belongsto fight w rstith toma theche familtes iny ,s thenchoo tols. the(...). communitThe y, Transgressions can sometimes lead to banishment schthenool n too lCoteonge d’Ivoire.r is the b [...]asi sNowadays of educat

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