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ADF worked with women from the Ivory Coast to form the Ivorian Movement of Democratic Women (Mouvement Ivoirien des Femmes Démocrates MIFED), which was founded in Abidjan in August 1990. MIFED defends and protects the rights of women and helps them fulfill their role in building a more democratic, just society. Members of MIFED are women professionals and others, literate or illiterate, living in towns and in rural areas.
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast: Women’s Rights and Human Rights
ADF worked with women from the Ivory Coast to form the Ivorian Movement of Democratic Women (Mouvement Ivoirien des Femmes Démocrates MIFED), which was founded in Abidjan in August 1990. MIFED defends and protects the rights of women and helps them fulfill their role in building a more democratic, just society. Members of MIFED are women professionals and others, literate or illiterate, living in towns and in rural areas. ADF’s technical and financial assistance enabled MIFED to conduct conferences uniting women from throughout Africa. Participants shared experiences and developed strategies for integrating women into the movement for democracy and human rights; they also improved their knowledge of civic and voter education. MIFED’s activities include:
- Sponsoring conferences and workshops on family law, access of women to credit, sexual mutilation, HIV/AIDS;
- Issuing press releases to denounce violations of human rights in general and women's rights in particular;
- Holding press conferences on the status of women in the Ivory Coast;
- Sponsoring solidarity actions with the prisoners in MACA (the main prison in the country), with an emphasis on women prisoners;
- Sponsoring workshops on democracy, because MIFED believes that a democratic society will mean the end of discrimination against women; and
Running a Center for Legal, Economic and Social Assistance for women to learn about their rights, receive medical assistance, and be trained as artisans.