Plan Sierra Leone Annual Progress Report 2010

PORTU

A YEAR IN

SENEGAL 2010

SUMMARY REPORT

Schools aim to reduce the drop-out rate of children aged 7–18 by half as part of Plan projects

3

OUR PRIORITIES

GOOD REASONS

in Senegal

why Plan works in Senegal

• Improving children’s health and development, promoting safe motherhood, providing clean water and sanitation, and helping families to WESTERN increase their SAHARA incomes

• Only 50 per cent of children in areas where Plan works go to primary school, and many girls drop out because of early marriage, abuse and poverty • A third of people in rural areas do not have clean drinking water

(OCCUPIED BY MOROCCO)

• Helping more children to stay in school and improving the quality of teaching, and getting children involved in issues that affect them

• Nine out of ten people in rural areas do not have sanitation facilities

• Promoting children’s rights and protecting children from abuse, violence and exploitation

‘Now, hand washing with water and soap is compulsory before meals and after toilet visits’ Children play with toys to stimulate learning at an early childhood centre

Senegal Facts Capital: Dakar Population: 13.7 million Languages: French (official).

Saint-Louis Louga

Dakar

Urban Dakar

SENEGAL

Ranérou

Thiés

Country Office Program Units

Kaolack

l ega

Bignona

MALI

Sen

Goudiry

GAMBIA

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include food processing, mining, cement, artificial fertiliser, chemicals, textiles, refining imported petroleum, and tourism. Exports include fish, chemicals, cotton, fabrics, groundnuts, and calcium phosphate. Private activity now accounts for 82 per cent of GDP. On the negative side, Senegal faces deep-seated urban problems of chronic high unemployment, socioeconomic disparity, juvenile delinquency, and drug addiction.

MAURITANIA

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Wolof and other languages are widely spoken Climate: The local climate is tropical with well-defined dry and humid seasons that result from northeast winter winds and southwest summer winds.

Dakar’s annual rainfall of about 600 mm occurs between June and October when maximum temperatures average 27°C. December to February minimum temperatures are about 17°C. In the far interior of the country summer temperatures can reach as high as 54°C.

Senegal

Economy: The main industries

Nig

GUINEABISSAU

Au

Niger Kankan

er

Ban

Focus On:

early childhood care and development The early years are crucial to children’s growth and development. Plan gives young children the chance to learn and develop at playgroups and nurseries, and grow up healthy, with clean water and sanitation facilities. We promote safe motherhood

and support families to become financially secure and able to meet their young children’s needs.

Children make use of new schoolroom equipment in Mpal

Playing

The Bigger Picture

to get a head start Children under the age of three who go to playgroups get a head start in their educational life.

Playing together gives children opportunities to develop emotionally, physically, intellectually and socially. It helps them make the transition to structured education, meaning they are less likely to drop out later on. Playgroups also help parents to improve children’s health, and encourage communities to get involved in meeting children’s needs.

Despite these benefits, few children in Senegal go to playgroups. So in four rural areas in Louga region, north-west Senegal, Plan worked with communities to improve what’s available.

First, Plan held public meetings, attended by members of rural councils, village leaders and community groups. Each village set up its own management committee, and in each a group of mothers was trained in early childhood care and development. Fifty playgroups were set up in total.

Learning through play The playgroups give children a head start in their education. Nutritional information sessions for parents are also on offer, as are meals for the children based on enriched local cereals. Plan provides financial support, but communities themselves also demonstrate their commitment by making contributions, either financially or in kind.

Parents are given information on breastfeeding and vitamin supplements, encouraged to make sure their children are vaccinated and shown how to prevent malaria and treat diarrhoea.

Safe motherhood is promoted, and women are encouraged to go to antenatal checkups and to get support after their babies are born.

Over 2400 children now attend playgroups, and there have been real changes. Parents understand the importance of early childhood care and development. They see positive changes in children’s behaviour. A mother in Pare Cissé village tells how her child attending a playgroup has utterly changed her family’s behaviour: ‘Now, hand washing with water and soap is compulsory before meals and after toilet visits,’ she says.

Produced for Senegal by Plan International Australia.

Better health Children’s health has improved. The community health educator in Keur Ibra Maram village is impressed: ‘All children under a year old have had their vaccinations. More children are sleeping under mosquito nets that are treated with mosquito repellant.’ Fewer children are suffering from malaria, and rates of diarrhoea have declined.

Playgroups are bringing back some childhood traditions that had disappeared as villages became more modern. For example, one grandfather tells how delighted he was when his grandson came home singing and telling traditional songs and stories, which had long been forgotten in his village.

Children are also benefiting in other ways. Less than half of children in rural areas have their birth registered, denying them their rights as citizens and leaving them open to exploitation.

In villages with playgroups, birth certificates are delivered to all children in collaboration with local government.

Everyone gets to learn School teachers have found that children who have been to playgroups have better comprehension skills than other children of the same age, helping them get a good start to their time at school. Management committee members are learning new skills in health, nutrition, planning and communication, benefiting the whole community. Local leaders are more aware of the importance of early childhood care and their own responsibilities, and local government has included grants to playgroups in its budgets.

Plan is working with children, families and communities to find sustainable solutions to the challenges in Senegal. We have only given you a small insight into Plan’s work in Senegal with this report but over the past year we also: • Trained 1358 young people to start their own businesses, and helped them set up savings and loans groups • Supported 1000 girls at risk of dropping out of school and providing tutoring and scholarships for 5593 children • Set up 12 Child Abuse Prevention Committees, and trained 200 children and childcare workers and 336 community leaders in child protection • Improved school hygiene and sanitation by installing nine drinking water systems and building 26 toilet blocks for 2300 children Your support as a sponsor is crucial to achieving these results. With the resources provided by sponsors, Plan expertise and the collaboration of communities and local partners we are making a big difference to the lives of people in Senegal.

Thank you for your involvement!

To learn more about Plan’s work in Senegal visit plan.org.au/ourwork/westafrica/senegal

This project shows how communities can work together, with Plan’s support, to improve their children’s lives and get them started on the road to realising their potential through education.

‘School teachers have found that children who have been to playgroups have better comprehension skills than other children of the same age’