France/Cocumont: an association signs a partnership agreement with a Senegalese commune

The humanitarian aid association will be working with the commune on a project to green public spaces and create a shared orchard.

On Friday April 11, the Dental Garonne Sénégal association held its annual general meeting. President Dieynaba Ba outlined the activities of the organization, which she set up fifteen years ago. Its aim is to provide humanitarian aid to Labgar, the town of her birth in north-western Senegal. Various donations of medical equipment, refurbished vehicles, books and computers, as well as financial aid for training matrons and refurbishing the dispensary, have helped to improve health conditions for the local population.

Since 2019, for a variety of reasons, concrete actions have fallen off sharply. Despite this, Dental has continued to get involved in the village's community life, always with the aim of raising funds to help this African community. The year 2025 may well be a turning point for the association. The communes of Cocumont and Labgar have signed a partnership agreement thanks to the Facility for Financing Local Authorities (Ficol), supported by the French Development Agency (AFD). Dental is the project manager for this collaboration.

Micro-gardening

In Cocumont, this will take the form of greening public spaces and a shared orchard, as part of the "Cœur de bourg 2030" project. In Labgar, the creation of micro-gardening schemes is envisaged, taking into account the crying lack of water. Financial support would be provided, shared between the two communes. The application was submitted on March 21. During the AGM, Chloé Tarascon, a medical student, spoke about her humanitarian work at the Labgar dispensary, which she carried out for two months in 2024.

At the close of the meeting, Idrissa Diop, mayor of Labgar, thanked the members of the association by videoconference and spoke about the Franco-Senegalese collaboration project.

Source: www.sudouest.fr/