Acrosssocial welfare offices in Ivory Coast, from Soubré in the southwest to Korhogo in the north, a shift is taking shape. The country is piloting Primero, a digital information system designed to modernize how social workers manage cases and services across the child protection and broader protection caseload. As of August 2026, the groundwork is solid for a planned national rollout.
Building the Foundation First
A critical milestone in the CPIMS+ journey was the development and validation of national Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), data protection and information-sharing protocols, , and accompanying case management tools. These foundational documents have now been technically approved, officially published, and made available for implementation across the country.
That foundation set the stage for a carefully phased training rollout. The first pilot trained 13 social structures across the south and southwest. The pilot was extended to 14 more structures in the north and west, and finally to 6 additional structures in Haut-Sassandra with support from Save the Children, bringing the total to 33 structures trained on the new SOPs.
From there, a subset of 22 of those 33 structures went further, building specific capacity on the Primero tool itself. 15 of them were equipped with tablets to begin digital case management, and 7 more were strengthened through the Save the Children partnership. 20 social centers now have tablets in hand, and 13 computers have been delivered to central government directorates within the Ministry of Women, Family and Children (MFFE) and the Ministry of Employment and Social Protection (MEPS).
More Than a Child Protection Tool
Primero is often thought of as a child case management system. Here's where the story gets interesting in Ivory Coast implementation where Primero use is expected to be broader. The platform has been configured to include adults over 18 years old (GPROTECT) receiving protection services through a dedicated module. That module, developed with technical support from UNICEF's Center of Excellence after the country flagged the gap, has been finalized on the production platform and is now being fine-tuned for performance. Another system was developed to collect information on prevention activities, and all of this data is analyzed in a centralized dashboard that consolidates all protection activities. These systems are still in an active testing and expansion phase.
Challengeson the Road to Scale
The team has been candid about what's still in the way. The platform itself isn't finished: fully integrating the GPROTECT module and making Primero accessible through a single, unified link is ongoing, with UNICEF's regional support helping close the gap. Therefore, the optimization of the Dashboard remains a key priority to ensure all activities can be captured through a unified Dashboard.
Training hasn't reached everyone either, since bringing all social structures nationwide up to speed on case management and Primero is a major undertaking; the plan is to run regional training sessions led by local trainers, reaching more people at lower cost.
Ministries aren't yet aligned on reporting, as different parts of government have historically tracked child and protection data differently. The fix on the table is coordination through regular joint meetings and shared statistics production, working toward a single reporting standard.
The coming months represent an important phase in Ivory Coast Primero journey. Priorities include updating and finalizing the Dashboard, , training regional trainers who can support colleagues across the country, and expanding capacity-building efforts to all social service structures.
These steps will help move the country from pilot implementation toward broader institutionalization and nationwide adoption.
Planning for the Long Run: The Sustainability Plan
What happens after the pilot phase matters just as much as the pilot itself. Ivory Coast sustainability strategy rests on three pillars:
- Consolidating reporting onto a single Dashboard: Advocacy is underway with technical ministries to eventually consolidate all administrative social and child protection reporting onto centralized Dashboard.
- Learning that scales itself: Social workers are being gradually transitioned onto an e-learning platform for case management training, reducing reliance on in-person sessions as adoption grows.
- Keeping expertise rooted locally: A standing pool of regional trainers is being maintained so knowledge stays embedded in the regions rather than disappearing at the end of a project cycle.
A Collective Achievement
Ivory Coast progress reflects the commitment of government institutions, social workers, UNICEF, Primero, and implementing partners working toward a shared goal: ensuring that protection services are better coordinated, evidence-based, and accessible to those who need them most.
As implementation continues to evolve, the country's experience offers valuable lessons for other nations embarking on their own digital transformation journeys. Through strong leadership, partnership, and innovation, Ivory Coast is demonstrating how one system can help strengthen.
Photos credit
© UNICEF/UNI575365/Dejongh
© UNICEF/UNI575365/Dejongh