Plan Senegal: what we do

Plan’s work in Senegal covers 4 core areas:

• quality learning for children and youth
• child protection
• a safe and healthy environment
• social and economic leadership for youth and women.

We focus on improving educational facilities by constructing, rehabilitating and equipping classrooms, as well as training teachers, so that children can receive a quality education.

Plan also supports the use of alternative educational systems, such as Koranic and Arabic schools, which are appreciated by families, especially in rural areas. Additionally we strive to increase the success rate of children completing their studies, and increase the enrolment number of children into school each year, at primary school, especially for girls.

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Plan Senegal

Plan has been operating in Senegal since 1982, helping poor children to access their rights to education, health and protection.

Our programmes benefit 37,000 children in 600 communities across Senegal.

Currently, we are focusing on a programme for the care and protection of thousands of underprivileged children in the suburban areas of Dakar, in collaboration with local non-governmental organisations, including the ‘centre de Sauvegarde’ – a practical learning centre to teach underprivileged children skills in 'hands on' professions.

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Case study: Health huts save lives

Hundreds of Plan-supported health huts across rural Senegal are having a dramatic impact on the lives of more than 1,000,000 people – fighting diseases and boosting child nutrition and health.

By providing essential services, the huts have helped cut rates of diarrhoea in children aged under 5  from 33% to almost 1%. They have also ensured that over 90% of children are now receiving immunisation, compared to only 53% 5 years ago.

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Water, water - but it's not everywhere...

Plan's International Media Officer Jane Labous writes about the importance of World Water Day.

Last time I was in Dakar, Senegal, my apartment only had cold water. When I first arrived, I considered this a hardship, and I’d diligently warm a pan of water on the stove every morning for my shower. Transferring the pan to a bucket, I quickly learnt the local technique of scooping the hot water over myself with a stripy plastic kettle (they’re always stripy, always plastic...). Suddenly hot water was a luxury, not a given, and suddenly that handkerchief-sized splash of hot water felt as good as a power shower.

After a few weeks the water went off altogether, a regular occurrence in Dakar where random water cuts can last for days. 

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Senegal: Reaching talibé child beggars

In Senegal’s worst Koranic schools, the teachers routinely send their pupils to beg on the streets, citing it as a part of their religious learning.

The children, known as ‘talibés’, receive no formal education and can suffer poor living conditions. Boys aged from 3 to 15 must earn their keep on the streets, while girls may be put to work in the school – or daara – itself.

Watch the clip to learn more and see how Plan is working as a partner in the USAID-funded Basic Education Project, which is supporting the introduction of a formal education cycle and better learning conditions into daaras in Louga and Dakar.

What’s the impact of a new music studio in Senegal?

Up until recently, the idea of a music career was all but a dream for children living in the slums of Dakar. However, thanks to the support of famed Swedish rapper Timbuktu, Plan in Senegal has opened a new music studio.

Now there are possibilities for Senegalese children to be heard in their communities … and maybe even the world.

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Improving education and wellbeing amongst vulnerable children in Senegal

Plan is working in Senegal to improve the educational opportunities and general welfare of children attending Koranic schools, known as daaras.

Partly due to a lack of funds and resources, young people living as part of daara arrangements face substandard living conditions and inadequate educational provisions. Moreover, maltreatment and exploitation is common. Many of the students, or talibés, are some of Senegal's most vulnerable children, separated from friends and family and living on the street.

“Traditionally, children went to daaras to learn the Koran, but also to learn a profession – such as agriculture,” says Oumar Ben Khatab Gueye, a project worker at Plan Senegal. “But it is now corrupt. The talibés are now children who are on the street, in a difficult situation, vulnerable physically and mentally, and often mistreated.”

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Facing an Illiterate Future

Senegal’s Koranic masters routinely send their pupils to beg on the streets, citing it as a part of their religious learning. Can one project improve the conditions and literacy of the Talibé children?

The mosque calls the evening prayer as five year-old Ngagne approaches the glow of the fire. A small, barefoot boy in filthy shorts and a ragged t-shirt, he curls up in the dirt, a little hunched figure leaning towards the light.

“At night I get scared,” Ngagne says. “I miss my parents so much.”

Film med Peter Mygind

Skuespiller Peter Mygind var i 13 år PlanFadder til drengen Aladji i Senegal. Da Aladji fyldte 18 år, blev Peter PlanFadder til en lille pige i Indien.

Hør Peter fortælle om sine oplevelser som PlanFadder i en stribe film, du kan se her på siden.