The following is an overview of three local and state initiatives with community partnerships that empowering women in Senegal. These organizations are playing a crucial role in breaking the cycle of poverty by providing women with essential resources, education and support. 

3 Community Programs Empowering Women in Senegal

1. Tostan: Community-Led Development. Tostan, which means breakthrough in the Wolof language, is a nonprofit organization that Molly Melching, an exchange student, founded in Senegal in 1991 after she started a children’s center in Senegal. It focuses on empowering women and communities in Senegal through education and health initiatives. Economic struggles often lead families to pull girls out of school to contribute to income-generating activities or agricultural labor and girls face a higher risk of early marriage compared to boys. In addition, Molly Melching and her team at Tostan founded the Community Empowerment Program (CEP), which promotes community ownership of the development process. The final stage of the CEP, known as Aawde, includes instructional sessions on literacy, mathematics, project management and budgeting skills. Furthermore, these sessions help participants to efficiently organize and launch small businesses in their communities. Many of these enterprises, managed by women, offer them opportunities to earn an independent income.
2. Women’s World Banking. Women’s World Banking, an international organization active in Senegal, promotes financial inclusion for women through partnerships with local financial institutions. This organization also improves access to financial services and resources for women entrepreneurs using apps. In Senegal, many rural women participate in informal savings groups, known as tontines, which provide a secure and familiar setting for them to meet with peers and save money for business ventures and crucial expenses. In fact, more than 40% of adult women in Senegal prefer informal savings clubs or individuals outside their families for saving money, in stark contrast to the mere 6% who opt for formal financial institutions. What’s more, Matontine and MyAgro, two digital financial services offered by Women’s World Banking, cater to businesses serving rural populations in Senegal. Matontine offers a suite of financial services, including profit-doubling loans, digital banking and life insurance. MyAgro offers digital banking services structured similarly to tontines, boosting women’s economic participation. It also provides digital banking options customized for Senegalese women. This initiative is one of the three community programs aimed at empowering women in Senegal.
3. Cosef: Senegalese Women’s Council. Conseil Sénégalais des Femmes (Cosef) founded in 1955, is a transpartisan NGO dedicated to ensuring equal opportunities for women’s political participation. An increase in women’s political involvement correlates strongly with better health outcomes for families and reduced poverty. In 2010, the council played a pivotal role in enacting a gender parity law, organized participatory budgeting for local authorities and continues to provide training for women in political parties. The Senegalese Women’s movement ranks among the strongest in Africa. Thanks to the 2010 parity law, the number of women parliamentarians running in the 2012 election doubled. COSEF remains committed to empowering women and enhancing their representation in the Senegalese government by strengthening local institutions and advocating for training and political capacity-building programs for women and girls. Rokhiatou Gassama currently serves as the president of COSEF.

Strengthening Communities

These three organizations are only a few of the many that exemplify the collective commitment toward empowering women in Senegal and breaking systems of poverty. With their diverse approaches, they contribute to building stronger, more resilient communities where women play an active role in their upliftment.

Additionally, the documented achievements of these three community programs empowering women underscore the importance of community-driven efforts in the ongoing efforts to decrease poverty in Senegal.

– Ava Johnson
Photo: Unsplash