Ambassador

Ambassador's Speeches

Book Presentation ceremony for “Conseils Generaux”

Mister Minister of Decentralization
The Director General of the MOD
Presidents or their representatives of the Conseils Generaux
Honorable Invitess
Dear Friends

Akwaba. Welcome to the American Embassy, and thank you for accepting our invitation to join us today for this wonderful presentation ceremony.

I cannot think of a group of Ivorian political leaders and community achievers as important to the country’s future as those of you gathered here this afternoon. In a successful democratic society, in a nation where the rule of law is honored and civil society institutions promoted -- in a land much like Cote d’Ivoire today -- concerned and involved citizens like you have a vital role to play in your communities. You are the finest of public servants working for the common good -- professional men and women with successful careers and businesses of your own, who have stepped forward and volunteered your time and talent to serve in the nation’s 56 Conseils Generaux as regional leaders, community advocates, and social activists. I salute you, and the work you do so ably. I am sincere in saying that we in the Embassy believe that Cote d’Ivoire’s political and economic recovery and democratic institution rebuilding will be directly tied to how successful you are in performing your duties and responsibilities as conseils generaux.

Given the high regard Americans have for the kind of civil society and nation-building institution you so ably represent, I asked my colleagues in the Embassy to find ways we might help you in your work, to see it there were any resources or materials we could make available for you and your colleagues to use in the field. What we have come up with is a small but very practical collection of 41 books -- The Conseil General Special Collection -- which we hope will prove of interest and use to you, your CG colleagues, and the community activists and village leaders with whom you work.

The collection is comprised of American titles that have been superbly translated into French and distributed by Nouveaux Horizons, a publishing house of American works I am sure most of you will remember from your student days. They are the same books that political leaders, professionals, social scientists and community organizers in my country are reading and discussing. They present the best in American perspectives, practices and principles on a broad and diverse range of subjects: politics, public administration, urban renewal, citizen rights and social justice, democratic institution building, the environment, good management practices and techniques, public health policies, the media, open markets and national development, fighting the curse and cancer of corruption. There are guides and how-tos in the collection to help people set up a library, surf the internet, start a business, run for political office, manage an NGO, and even on how to deal with difficult people -- now there’s a book we probably all need to read.

Think of the books in the "Conseil Generale Special Collection" as another set of program tools you can use to help you do your job better. They were chosen to serve as a kind of rapid-response reference shelf for your office, giving your staff and constituents books that can be used to help prepare for discussions with local leaders, to generate ideas for community projects, or provide guidance to good people trying to make a difference in their neighborhoods.

As I stated in the beginning, it’s a rather modest collection of books that we offer you here today, and we stand ready to assist you in any way we can.