On Tuesday, August 20, 2024, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:05 p.m., a workshop marking the resumption of activities by the UMI Source Côte d'Ivoire Branch was held in the Kouadio Yao Room at CIRES. This meeting was chaired by Dr. DIARRA Ibrahim, Director of CIRES and Head of the UMI Source Côte d'Ivoire Branch.

The agenda, submitted and adopted, included four (04) items:
1. Information
2. Update on ongoing work (Dr. Eugène, Dr. Camara, and Dr. Cécile)
3. Outlook
4. Miscellaneous

In opening the session, Dr. DIARRA Ibrahim expressed his gratitude to the members of the Unit for their attendance, despite scheduling constraints. He then provided an update on the CIRES unit’s recent activities, mentioning the open science training provided by the northern team to the southern team (the Côte d’Ivoire branch) on April 24 and 25, 2024. In this context, the branch manager noted that Diarra Lacina and Kamagaté Tidiane had agreed to share their data for the training and for online publication.

The branch manager also informed participants of the Côte d’Ivoire branch’s participation in the UMI Source Days, represented by Dr. DIARRA and Mr. N’DA Léon, former doctoral student coordinator. He took the opportunity to announce several changes within UMI Source, notably the appointment of DIARRA Lacina as the new doctoral student coordinator, replacing Mr. N’DA for the Côte d’Ivoire branch.

The new PhD student coordinator, DIARRA Lacina, informed participants that Gromiko André DJE, a member of the UMI Source Côte d’Ivoire branch, presented a poster online during the UMI Source conference held in France, and that this work was ranked among the top three. Lacina also noted that the next conference dedicated to doctoral students could be held in Madagascar.

Finally, the coordinator reminded the group that a funding line had enabled several members, including Dr. DIARRA, Dr. Koffi Marcel, Dr. Eugène, Dr. Camara, and Cécile, to receive funds to finance their research, and that there are still funding opportunities to explore.

Turning to the second item on the agenda, Dr. DIARRA Ibrahim invited members who had received funding for their research to provide an update on the progress of their work.

Dr. KOUADIO Eugène spoke first, noting that data collection in the slums of Abidjan for his study on communal courtyards had been successfully completed. He is currently in the data entry and processing phase.

Dr. Mariam Camara then presented her work on the normalization of corruption in Côte d'Ivoire. She informed the assembly that data collection had been conducted among 50 users, as well as several anti-corruption agencies, such as the Good Governance Authority, CENTIF, RILAC, and OSEP. She is currently in the data analysis phase, and initial trends indicate that users’ lack of awareness of these organizations is a contributing factor to corruption.

Finally, Dr. DIARRA Ibrahim provided an update on his work, noting that his tool (questionnaire) has been developed and that the data collection phase will begin in the coming days.

Looking ahead, the head of UMI Source CI highlighted two key objectives:
• Identify common research themes to facilitate collaboration across all disciplines (geographers, sociologists, economists, etc.).
• Strengthen the CIRES team by recruiting more doctoral students.
The doctoral student coordinator and secretary of the Côte d’Ivoire branch, DIARRA Lacina, then presented the tentative schedule for upcoming workshops:
Workshop 2: Thursday, August 29, 2024, for the presentation of results from ongoing work.
Workshop 3: September 12, 2024, to welcome and introduce new members.
Workshop 4: October 8–11, 2024, training for branch members on CSPro and SPSS.
Workshop 5: October 25, 2024, to review activities.

Regarding miscellaneous items, the following were discussed: - Introduction of new members - Closing remarks by the director: thanks to all participants.