Ben Balla Koné
"We'll have to pick up the pace"
In this interview with the Secretary General of the National Youth Council of Côte d'Ivoire (CNJCI), he stressed the positive impact of youth policies and calls for stepping up the support system.
We were greeted with a sincere smile as he informed us that he is a ‘doctor by training’. However, when he finished his studies, the prospects of a doctor's surgery in the city seemed too limited. “That's possibly where my involvement with associations had an impact on my choices. Very early on, I wanted to act on a much larger scale than the fifteen or twenty patients you see in a doctor's surgery.” As soon as he started working, he opted to join AstraZeneca, a global British pharmaceutical group. As Regional Medical Director, he felt useful. “There's an opportunity, with structuring programmes on an international scale, to have a greater impact on populations.” His commitment also involves ‘activism, or volunteering for activities outside work’.
He was a member of the medical student association of the Research and Development Unit (UFR) of the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny and also of the Rotary Club's youth section, of which he became president in Abidjan. He joined the national office of the Conseil National des Jeunes de Côte d'Ivoire (National Youth Council of Côte d'Ivoire). His steadfast commitment: “Being useful to my community and my society is what gets me out of bed every morning.”
It is primarily due to his rich associative background that Ibrahima Diabaté, elected president of the CNJCI in 2021, co-opted Dr Koné to the national executive board to become its secretary general. This ‘consultative and apolitical’ body, set up in Côte d'Ivoire in 2017, is a conduit between public authorities and young people. ‘For example, for the “Year of Youth” programme decreed by the President of the Republic, HEM Alassane Ouattara, the CNJCI was asked to convey the aspirations of young people.’
According to Dr Koné, their first aspiration is to have access to the information that concerns them: employment, entrepreneurial support or healthcare. Secondly, they want training so that they can find work. "Not everyone can be an entrepreneur. And they need to gain professional, on-the-job experience.
The news of the ‘Year of Youth’ raised hopes. “It's important to hear the President of the Republic saying that he's going to devote a whole year to looking after young people [...]. They represent around 75% of the population. It is only natural that a responsible government should seek answers to the concerns of such a large proportion of its citizens.”
There is, however, a frequent misconception of the colossal budgets announced (1118.115 billion CFA francs, from 2023 to 2025) which, in fact represent the combined efforts of the State of Côte d'Ivoire and its development partners. “Infrastructure projects (building schools, universities, training institutes, civic service centres) account for the majority of the funds released. There are over 22 million young people in Côte d'Ivoire. In terms of direct impact, over a million of them have benefited from the various programmes, and more than 8 million have been indirectly concerned [...]. We appreciate all the efforts that have been made, which have given Ivorian youth new prospects, but we need to scale up the schemes and pick up the pace.” His aim: to help every young person find his or her way.