158. African Perspectives: Ako Essan Emile Shares his Experience Growing up in Cote d’Ivoire

<p>Ako Essan Emile is from Cote d’Ivoire and is currently based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a Senior Project Manager for <a href='https://www.sfcg.org/'>Search For Common Ground</a>.  Ako was a 2019 Obama <a href='https://www.obama.org/africa/'>Foundation</a> Leader for Africa. He was also a 2019 Institute for Economics and Peace Ambassador, and a 2015 <a href='https://yali.state.gov/'>Young African Leaders Initiative</a> Washington Fellow.</p> <p>I met Ako around the 2015 elections in Cote d’Ivoire to document Ako’s work around a <a href='https://stories.usaid.gov/akos-radio/'>community radio station</a> promoting peaceful messages ahead of the country’s presidential election. That experience taught me a lot about the history of Cote d’Ivoire and I’m lucky to have become friends with Ako Essan Emile. You can see a video of his work <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvo7WVKvPGU'>here</a>.</p> <p>In this conversation, we discuss:</p> <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Growing up in Cote d’Ivoire and the influences that led him to peacebuilding;</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">His experience during the violence following the 2010 election and his work peacebuilding around the 2015 elections;</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Policies that can improve the economic prosperity for the people of Cote d’Ivoire;</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">His essay titled, <a href='https://seniorako.wordpress.com/2020/11/05/et-si-houphouet-boigny-netait-pas-lhomme-de-paix-que-lon-a-voulu-nous-faire-croire/'>What if Houphouët-Boigny was not the man of peace we were made to believe?</a>; and</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">What Americans should know about Africa.</li> </ul> <p>You can follow Ako’s work through the following links:</p> <ul><li style="font-weight:400;"><a href='https://seniorako.wordpress.com/'>seniorako.wordpress.com</a> </li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><a href='https://twitter.com/seniorako'>https://twitter.com/seniorako</a> </li> </ul> <p>ABOUT EML</p> <p>Empath