Côte d’Ivoire: Young people promote intergenerational dialogue on sexual and reproductive health through a board game

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It’s a Saturday morning. In Yopougon, a popular neighborhood of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, the streets are already lively. Vendors set up their stalls while residents prepare for the weekend.

Aicha Gladys, a young woman in her thirties, lives in Yopougon. She is the president of Pro Kids Côte d’Ivoire, an association created in 2022 during the Voix des Filles (Voices of Girls) conference, which focused on intergenerational dialogue. Inspired by her own experience with her parents, she now works to improve parent-teen communication on sexual and reproductive health.

Wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt, she hurries to a meeting in the Maroc neighborhood. She has an appointment with a group of women to discuss how to approach sexual and reproductive health topics with teenagers. She says, “Even in the city, sexuality remains a taboo subject between parents and their children. This affects our well-being as young people.”

Pro Kids Côte d’Ivoire has 50 members, including both young men and young women—some of whom are former teenage mothers. She confides, “Each of us has experienced the lack of communication with our parents. Our first goal was to raise awareness among our own parents without offending them.” 

In 2017, they started using card games to spark conversations. Given its success, they expanded their strategy into discussion groups. Cultural constraints in Côte d’Ivoire make intergenerational dialogue difficult, compounded by parents’ lack of knowledge on sexual and reproductive health, according to Dr. Albert Yao Kouakou of Jean Lorougnon Guédé University in Daloa.

To encourage dialogue, Pro Kids Côte d’Ivoire created a card game called Papos Sans Tabou, meaning “secrets” in Ivorian slang. Based on personal experiences, the game breaks generational barriers playfully. Ms. Gladys says, “The idea came from observing how card games bring people together.” 

The game replaces traditional cards with structured questions like: What is puberty? Do we have a good parent-child relationship? Have you ever had an abortion? Some parents find the questions direct and uncomfortable. Ms. Gladys adds, “But we understand that change takes time.” The cards are color-coded: blue for young adults, orange for parents, and red for penalties. Players answer questions; incorrect responses result in drawing a red card, requiring one-on-one discussion on a difficult topic.

Elisabeth Touré, a civil servant, had never discussed sexual health with her nieces, aged 14 to 22. Since discovering Papos Sans Tabou, she speaks freely with them. She says, “I realized they had misconceptions about sexual health. Now, I am like a teacher to them.” Her niece, Sarah Fatim Diomandé, 22, says, “At first, I was embarrassed, but I learned a lot.”

According to Edouard Kra, a socio-anthropologist at Alassane Ouattara University in Bouaké, the lack of dialogue contributes to high teenage pregnancy rates. Between September 2023 and May 2024, Côte d’Ivoire recorded 4,137 school pregnancies. Mr. Kra says, “Intergenerational dialogue improves young people’s sexual health.”

Ms. Gladys is proud that more parents like Mrs. Touré have adopted Papos Sans Tabou. She says, “Our hope is for parents to talk with us for our well-being. Our next challenge: translating the game into national languages to reach illiterate parents and further break the taboo.”

This resource was produced with funding from the PASSERELLE project, which is implemented in partnership with WUSC thanks to funding from Global Affairs Canada.