SenegalSenegal is a semi-arid country on the western-most point of the African continent. A former French colony, it was a trading and transport centre for the export of slaves, gold and ivory from Africa during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, its major exports include fish, peanuts and cotton.
Senegal is seen as a model of peaceful democratic rule, with multi-party elections and transitions in political leadership which have occurred without the types of conflict seen in many other African nations. Nevertheless, many Senegalese people struggle against high unemployment and poor access to education, health care and clean water. More than half of the population lives on less than US$ 2 a day. An estimated 60% of adults cannot read or write, and one in four people lack safe drinking water.
Animism is the oldest religion in Senegal, Christianity the newest, but the major religion is Islam: 94% of the population are Muslims. |
| Tackling the exploitation of Senegal’s “talibé” children In 2004, UNICEF estimated that about 100,000 children – 1% of Senegal’s children – were working as street beggars. The vast majority were (and are) talibés – boys forced to beg as part of their Koranic education.
The cultural tradition of sending boys to learn the Koran became a problem of child exploitation as a result of falling world peanut prices, desertification and mass migration to Senegal’s urban centres during the 1970s. During the decades since, poverty has continued to push rural parents, who cannot support their children, into sending their boys to marabouts (teachers) in the city. Talibés usually live in run-down shacks that double as Koranic schools, controlled by the marabouts. Many of the marabouts -- also struggling to make a living -- exploit their students by sending them into the streets to beg, then pocketing their meager earnings each day.
World Vision has a three-pronged approach to tackling this exploitive practice:
• Prevention: improving conditions in rural areas so families are able to support their children
• Care: innovative projects working with marabouts to help talibés go to school, have nutritious meals and improve living conditions, as well as helping marabouts find alternative sources of income
• Advocacy: working in coalition with Muslim, Christian and secular organizations and the Senegalese government to ensure that children and their rights are protected, according to existing laws and conventions. |
World Vision in Senegal World Vision began working in Senegal in response to the drought crisis of 1983-1984. In 1986, World Vision began drilling water boreholes in villages in the northern region of Louga: this project has since drilled more than 650 boreholes, providing safe water to half a million people.
Longer-term development projects, called Area Development Programmes (ADPs), now benefit some 650,000 people in four regions of Senegal. Through these projects World Vision is: • Improving access to sustainable sources of clean drinking water through the drilling and equipping of water boreholes, building storage towers and distribution systems to supply more than 180 villages.
• Helping families send their children to school by providing school materials to local schools, as well as building awareness among parents of the value of a good education
• Increasing food security for families by working with farmers to increase crop production, as well as providing small business loans and training to help families find new sources of income
• Improving access to healthcare by training local health workers, including traditional birth attendants, setting up and equipping of village health huts, as well as training mothers on better healthcare and nutrition. Mosquito nets have also been distributed as part of a campaign to curb malaria.
• Helping to change attitudes and raise awareness about HIV and AIDS through various community-based activities including sports and age-appropriate activities for children. Trained peer educators help spread the message of prevention and care among different social groups.
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