Launching Ceremony of 'The Team Côte d'Ivoire Season 3'

On April 15th 2013, SFCG Côte d'Ivoire officially presented the third season of the 'The Team Côte d'Ivoire' to its international and national partners at the Receiving Room of the Ivoirian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abidjan. Thi television series i being produced in the framework of the two-year initiative "Avançons Ensemble", funded by the State Deparment's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. This event was under the presidency of the Ministry of Planning and Development, which oversees public policies related to social cohesion in the country.

One of SFCG’s most successful platforms in promoting intergroup tolerance is a television program called The Team. The soap opera series is being produced in 16 other countries across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. In each country, the plot centers on a fictional soccer team, using it as a metaphor to address the challenges of uniting people from different social backgrounds behind a single goal. With each series, the core metaphor is the same: team members must work together across their differences, in order to score goals. In Côte d’Ivoire, SFCG has already produced 3 seasons of 47 half-hour-long episodes of The Team.

This third season features the struggle of Napoka, the hero and captain of the soccer team, to recover from the crisis, and illustrates the challenges and aspirations of the Ivoirian people in post-crisis context. Napoka and his family took refuge in an IDPs camp during the crisis, as they lost Napoka's sister during these events. Meanwhile Sarah, the former girlfriend of the hero, is now subject to sexual exploitation in Abidjan. As they struggle to recover from this delicate situation, Hervé, Napoka's former friend and soccer teammate, arrive in the IDP Camp looking for him. But Napoka and his father refuse his help, as they assimilate him as a supporter of the new regime. Hervé, despite initial mistrust and with the support of the coach of the soccer team, wil hel Napoko to rescue Sarah from sexual exploitation and to recover from the crisis.

During the launching ceremony, His Excellency Phillip Carter III, US Ambassador in Côte d'Ivoire, highlighted in his speech both the production quality and the relevance of this initiative to strengthen the national conversation on the reconciliation process. He praised this innovative medium to foster social cohesion and stated that this television series will be an element to accompany a process of positive social transformation across the country. Both Quentin Kanyatsi, SFCG's Country Director, and Jean-Noel Bah, director of "The Team", expressed their gratitude to the production crew and explained how "The Team" can promote intergroup tolerance and help Côte d'Ivoire to reconcile after this decade of political crisis. This event will be followed by a multi channel marketing strategy: television news reports followed by a live appearance of SFCG's Country Director on a nightly news program, TV and Radio spots, social media with Facebook as we will share excerpts and trailers each week on ou Youtube Channel during the period of broadcasting of the television series. This third season will start broadcasting on Ivoirian National Television (RTI) in May 2013.