Senegal/Diourbel: SWEED+ project presented to administrative authorities and technical departments

The project to empower women and capture the demographic dividend in sub-Saharan Africa plus Senegal (SWEED+) was presented on Wednesday to local administrative authorities and deconcentrated technical services in the Diourbel region (center), with the aim of facilitating its implementation.

Financed by the World Bank to the tune of 60 billion CFA francs, the project covers eleven regions of Senegal, grouped into territorial poles with a coordinator assigned to each pole.

The aim of the project is to make a major contribution to the empowerment of young girls, with a view to capturing the demographic dividend in Senegal. With this in mind, we are touring the country to present the SWEED+ project to administrative authorities and technical departments", explained its national coordinator, Birahim Sidibé.

According to Mr. Sidibé, the aim of this meeting is to familiarize local players with the specific objectives of the project, so that the results can be better tailored to the specific characteristics of each region.

In his presentation, Mr. Sidibé indicated that the project aims to reach over 350,000 adolescent girls, including 100,000 girls in school.

In the health sector, the project aims to enroll 630,000 new users of modern contraceptive methods, recruit 500 midwives in rural areas and build the capacity of nearly 2,000 community health workers," he added.

The national coordinator also emphasized that the SWEED+ project intends to play a leading role in the fight against gender-based violence, through the care and reintegration of victims and advocacy actions.

Lastly, he announced that the project will place particular emphasis on the schooling of adolescent girls, and in particular on keeping them in school.

Beneficiaries will be drawn from the Single National Registry (RNU), based on criteria defined in consultation with all stakeholders, he added.

Source: aps.sn/