Senegal: Income Generating Programmes Tied to Reproductive Health are Increasing Opportunities for Adolescent Girls and Transforming Communities

Adolescent mother and child watch a folk music group perform in Burumdi village

In the dusty farming town of Thies, about one hour east of Dakar, Senegal’s balmy port capital, a Cyber Center run by a national NGO, Centre Emmanuel, is transforming the local community by providing girls from the poorest families with the means to improve their lives and generate income. The Centre was established with joint support from UNFPA and UNICEF, through a generous grant provided by the United Nations Foundation.

The project is unique in that it focuses on girls from the most disadvantaged families – two groups normally by-passed by development initiatives. Centre Emmanuel, working closely with UNFPA, took a comprehensive, phased approach to the challenge of integrating poor girls into the community. Before these girls could be trained in computer science, they needed to become literate first. Most of them had never even been to school or had dropped out at early ages. None of them had skills or prospects for jobs. The initial batch of 20 adolescent girls, aged 17 to 20, were placed in a special remedial literacy class at the local primary school where they learned reading, writing and basic math. Once the girls passed a literacy test, they were enrolled in the Cyber Center for extensive computer training. As part of the skills development programme, the girls also receive information and counseling on reproductive health and rights and family planning.

Mrs Ndiaye, a supervisor of the Cyber Center .

The Centre is now training its second batch of students, 30 girls in all, in computer science. Amy Ndao, 19 years old, will graduate soon. Her story is all too familiar in this poor rural area. Her father died when she was just 10 and her mother ekes out a living selling vegetables and fruits in the local market. Amy lives with her mother’s sister in Thies in order to take advantage of the training programme.

“I am very happy now,” she says with a shy grin, “I had dropped out of school before, and didn’t understand anything. I knew nothing about the rest of the world. I certainly never thought I’d ever have a real skill and be able to earn my own money.”

Thirty girls are being trained in computer science at the Cyber Center in Thies.

Amy’s mother, Seynabou Peme, is effusive about the programme and her daughter’s prospects. “Amy was not a good student, she failed both primary and middle school,” explains Peme. “I didn’t have much hope for her at all. But the project has helped this community a lot. When Amy came to me with her first per diem for transportation and food, she gave most of the 15,000 CF (about $23) to me to pay our electric bill and buy essential supplies. I thank UNFPA and UNICEF for this project. We know that our lives are better because of the Centre.”

The supervisor of the Centre is Mrs. Ndiaye, a dynamic woman in her late 30s. “We were able to mobilize the entire community in support of this initiative,” she explains in French, “because we offered basic literacy education and job training. If we had come in with reproductive health and family planning services first, then tried to add on income generating skills, the project would not have been as readily received.”

The poor of Thies, as elsewhere, need basic education and ways and means to earn money “before they can be reached with messages regarding the importance of family planning and reproductive health,” confirms Fatou Samb, the local community out-reach facilitator.

• The Cyber Center is just one element of a comprehensive project – An Initiative to Promote the Empowerment of Adolescent Girls in Senegal – managed jointly by UNFPA and UNICEF, with technical assistance provided by WHO. The project emphasizes:
  Literacy and basic education for adolescent girls.
• Skills development and income generation.
• Access to adolescent-friendly reproductive health and family planning services.
• Counseling services and information tailored to the needs of youth.

This innovative, integrated approach to girls’ development has drawn the attention of other communities as well as the government. Cirelo Lo, Director of the Dept of Youth in the Ministry of Youth and President of the National Steering Committee for the project, is equally sanguine about its accomplishments and prospects. “We have learned two important lessons as a result of this project,” he says. “First, youth can be empowered for change; and second, empowered adolescents can play key roles in the development of Senegal.”

In Thies, Amy is looking forward to graduating from the Cyber Centre and striking out on her own. “I feel that I now have a future and can support myself,” she states bluntly. “I have a dream, I want to set up my own business and help my family. I never had dreams before this project changed my life.”

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