Senegal

L'action de l'AFD au Sénégal, développement — © Vincent Trémeau/AFD

As a long-standing partner of Senegal, AFD Group places its full range of financial instruments at the service of local economic and social development actors (including the State, public companies, the private sector and NGOs) to support an inclusive development model that creates jobs and promotes sustainable and environmentally friendly infrastructure.

Context

Senegal is located in the westernmost part of Africa, on the Atlantic coast, and has 15.3 million inhabitants. It is the second largest economy in French-speaking West Africa and has been experiencing strong growth since 2014.

Indeed, the country can rely on a number of advantages: its democratic tradition, its geographical position, a young population, a vast agricultural and mining potential and the dynamism of its diaspora.

However, it needs to deal with an informal economy which deprives the State of major resources, demographic pressure which increases poverty, and a youth suffering from the lack of jobs. There is, in addition, the environmental emergency: with its 531 km-long coastline, Senegal is particularly vulnerable to climate change.

AFD has been a partner of the country since 1947 and is a key correspondent for the Senegalese authorities. It mobilizes its entire range of financial tools to finance projects that contribute to sustainable and environmentally friendly growth with a concern for reducing inequalities.

AFD's Senegal office is directly attached to the Greater Sahel regional office in Ouagadougou.

Our approach

"AFD and Senegal: Promoting inclusive growth and protecting the environment"

Population growth in Senegal is accentuating the challenge of welcoming and retaining students in optimal conditions for their success. The socio-professional integration of young people, an asset for the vitality of the economy, is also a challenge. AFD supports growth that provides jobs in three stages:

Contributing to quality education: with support from the Global Partnership for Education, AFD is assisting with the implementation of the education sector reform to improve the quality of learning, reduce disparities in access to education for the benefit of the most vulnerable and improve the governance of the education system. AFD has contributed to increasing the intake capacity for Senegalese children in the education system with the construction and renovation of 65 secondary and high schools since 2012
Strengthening vocational training to meet the skills requirements of high-potential economic sectors (construction, port and logistics activities, agribusinesses, car mechanics, agricultural machinery, tourism, horticulture, poultry farming, mobility and transport) and develop decent job opportunities for young people and women. To better match training provision and the skills needs of businesses, AFD is assisting the Ministry of Vocational Training with the deployment of a governance framework for training centers with strong private sector involvement. The Government has already delegated the management of nine vocational training centers to the private sector
Supporting SMEs: since 2005, AFD has been financing an investment bonus system for SMEs with high growth potential in order to boost their competitiveness and the creation of local jobs. The ARIZ risk-sharing guarantee mechanism set up by Proparco also aims to facilitate access to bank financing for SMEs. In addition, AFD is supporting the General Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship of Women and Youth (DER/JF), in order to finance 1,000 SMEs and create over 12,000 direct jobs to facilitate their socio-economic integration.

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires health systems able to provide access to quality healthcare for all. Sport and culture are vehicles for social cohesion and are also key drivers for the sustainable and inclusive development of Senegalese society. AFD supports projects with a high social impact in the following three areas:

Improving the health system: by providing women with access to a package of improved services during pregnancy at a reduced cost, the projects financed by AFD are contributing to reducing maternal and infant mortality in the regions of Louga, Sédhiou and Kolda. AFD is also assisting the Government of Senegal with its reform plan to revitalize the pharmaceutical sector and strengthen its vaccine sovereignty
Supporting cultural and creative industries: AFD is contributing to building an ecosystem of culture that creates jobs, generates growth and catalyzes change, with the structuring of the audiovisual sector and professionalization of performing arts
Promoting sport for all: AFD takes action for the benefit of Senegalese youth, by rehabilitating sports facilities, sharing expertise in training and accompanying athletes and the development of socio-educational programs through sport. It is supporting a total of 12 Senegalese CSOs.

Regional development is one of AFD Group’s priorities in Senegal. The objective is to make cities real drivers of growth, while improving the quality of life of people, with a focus on the following three issues:

Facilitating urban mobility: AFD has co-financed the construction of Blaise Diagne International Airport (AIBD), the first toll motorway in West Africa, linking Dakar to AIBD, and the Regional Express Train (TER), a 38-km mass transport rail system from Dakar to Diamniadio with a capacity of 80,000 passengers a day. AFD is also financing the transformation of the bus network in Dakar, to improve the network and transport conditions
Developing resilient agriculture: the agriculture sector is the largest provider of jobs and is considered as the growth engine of the national economy. AFD works to modernize family farming and support food self-sufficiency through diversified, sustainable and competitive agriculture, creating decent rural jobs for women and young people
Improving access to basic services and people’s living conditions: AFD supports a number of projects with its European partners which aim to increase the wastewater treatment capacity, secure the drinking water supply system in Dakar and increase access to electricity in rural areas. AFD also supports the decentralization process by developing the capacities of local authorities.

Through the projects financed and its strong commitment in favor of various international initiatives (COP, facilities, Green Climate Fund), Senegal is one of AFD’s main partner countries in the fight against climate change. AFD supports the Government of Senegal in the following areas:

Improving the management and preservation of natural resources, for example, through the conservation and development of marine and coastal ecosystems. This involves assisting the Government of Senegal with the implementation of its policy on marine protected areas and its fight against coastal erosion in the Saint-Louis region. AFD is providing a response in the short term, through the construction of a dyke to protect property and people, and in the longer term by promoting an integrated approach to the management of coastal areas
Taking action for sustainable territories for the benefit of people by promoting integrated flood management and accelerating the country’s energy transition. AFD is also assisting the Government of Senegal with the development of sustainable cities through integrated waste management and financing for greener public transport systems such as the Regional Express Train
Accompanying Senegal towards low-carbon and climate-resilient development trajectories: AFD is providing technical and financial assistance for the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through its Adapt’Action program and with technical support from Expertise France.