Where we work

CECI has been working in Senegal since 1984. For the first decade, we focused on organizational and institutional capacity building for civil society and promotion of rural economic development. Thus, our work was concentrated in the institutional support and economic development sectors.

In recent years, CECI has extended its operations to three new regions.

Since 2000, the average annual rate of growth has held steady at 5% with inflation of 1.5%. Foreign debt was estimated at US $4.1 billion in 1998. Better still, Senegal has just been granted debt relief as part of the international initiative in favour of Highly Indebted Poor Countries.

With our volunteer cooperation programs and development projects, CECI contributes to the efforts towards economic, social, cultural, and political progress undertaken by the government and civil society of Senegal.

Context

Senegal has long been cited as a model of interethnic and religious harmony and democracy in Africa, despite the persistence of rebellion in the southern part of the country (Casamance). It is a republic governed by a multiparty democracy.

Since the devaluation of the CFA franc in 1994, Senegal’s economy has undergone notable progress:

• the economic growth rate has held steady at 5% for the last five years;
• inflation is under 2% for the last three years;
• the budget deficit has been brought under 1.5% (among the lowest in Africa).

The country’s economic growth is largely being driven by the tertiary sector (60% of GDP). Moreover, Senegal has about 1,200 industrial SMEs that account for some 40,000 permanent jobs, or 40% of jobs in the formal sector. The informal sector, for its part, is particularly vigorous, offering a large part of the population a way out of extreme poverty.

The economic portrait of Senegal can be told in figures:

• Senegal was 145^th out of 162 countries ranked according to the UNDP human development index (1999);
• in terms of health and nutrition, 58% of Senegalese households consume less than the minimum daily requirement of 2400 calories per adult;
• only 50% of the population has access to potable water;
• there is a ratio of only 7 doctors and 35 nurses per 100,000 inhabitants;
• the maternal mortality rate is about 510/100,000 live births for the whole country, and twice that in certain regions;
• about 22% of children under the age of 5 are malnourished;
• the infant mortality rate is 69 per 1,000 births;
• the life expectancy is 61 for men and 64 for women.

Challenges

Education

Senegal has:

• an adult illiteracy rate of 64%;
• a primary schooling rate of 78% for boys and 65% for girls.

Even though 40% of the national budget is devoted to education, access to quality education is limited and highly unequal from one region to another (as well as between rural and urban areas).

The benefits of economic growth in Senegal are highly unequally distributed: 20% of the population garners 58% of the wealth while the poorest 20% are left with only 3%.

Agriculture

The agricultural sector represents the means of subsistence for over half the population but represents only 17% of the GDP; in fact, a majority of farmers are practicing purely subsistence agriculture. Nor has economic growth reduced the very high urban unemployment rate.

Poverty reduction

The poverty reduction strategy adopted in 2001 by the Senegalese government aims to reduce the number of people living in poverty by 50% before 2015. This effort is part of an approach that aims for heightened investment in the social sectors of the economy as well as stimulation of those economic activities most directly related to employment, income, and productivity for the poor.

Gender equality

The Constitution of Senegal recognizes and guarantees the equality of men’s and women’s rights, and the Labour Code is drafted in such a way as to apply this principle. However, there are a number of barriers standing in the way of women’s access to opportunities for improving their living conditions:

• Where legal language favourable to women exists, its enforcement meets with cultural and religious resistance. The effects of women’s illiteracy accentuate this gap.
• Women represent 43% of the labour force and do 81% of agricultural work, yet the informal sector has become the main area of small-scale production from which they derive nonfarm income.
• In the manufacturing sector, women are employed primarily in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. Their low numbers in other areas of manufacturing are largely due to illiteracy, discrimination in favour of men in many trades, lack of technical training, and lack of information about job opportunities.