The African Institute for Economic and Social Development (INADES) was established in 1962 at the request of the Bishops of West Africa to work on issues of economic and social development, specifically agricultural training programmes. In 2002, INADES expanded to develop into the Centre for Research and Action for Peace (CERAP) that consists of four main branches:

• The Institute for Dignity and Human Rights (IDDH): Research centre and private university with studies in areas of peace, ethics, human rights and governance.
• The Documentation Centre (CEDOC): A library of resources on issues of peace, human rights, democracy and good governance.
• Social Action in Urban Areas (ASMU): Free professional apprenticeships for disadvantaged young people.
• Editions of CERAP (EDICERAP): Publishes and encourages intellectual papers, editions, books, etc. by Ivorian authors, targeted for youth dropout or illiterate underprivileged families.

The Centre runs highly popular public conferences every Fridays on topics of tolerance, peace, human rights, good governance, democracy etc., given by experts on the subjects. CERAP also runs surveys and opinion polls that focus on the values and lifestyles of Ivorian men and women.

In 2007, CERAP launched youth programs in 41 “peace villages” around the country, training 179 teachers and supervisors in citizenship and conflict management. These teachers then created clubs within their schools and communities, a newspaper and an annual camp that spreads ideas of good citizenship and conflict management. The children in these programmes ran their own electoral commissions to elect a village head and ministers, teaching them the importance of good democracy. The project was so successful that it was replicated in Chad and Burkina Faso and is being proposed to the Ivorian Ministry of Education to be included as part of the national education curriculum.