Citizen participation to reduce inequalities: Senegalese activists from the Sahel take up the fight

Using a methodology based on collective intelligence and sharing experience, a team of AfricTivistes trainers, in partnership with Oxfam and WiLDAF, spent five days supporting and equipping a group of young change-makers in Senegal. Sessions covered civic engagement, leadership and digital campaigning to reduce inequality in the Sahel, with particular attention to gender issues.

Participation, inclusion and collaboration

To encourage young change-makers to take part and develop a new awareness of the issues involved in reducing inequality, the Sahel Activists plan to make the internet and social media spaces for information, dialogue and learning.

“To better share and promote our efforts to participate, we have created the senegalites.org platform. This digital tool will help us fight inequality and encourage our States to commit to reducing this scourge. This is especially important because we live in a region where inequality is glaringly evident. Together, we can do it, and we will do it through online awareness-raising campaigns,” says Alice Djiba, a journalist who took part in the training as part of the Sahel Insight project.

Capacity-building, commitment and the value of experience

The change-makers say they now understand the issues involved in reducing inequality after identifying how it manifests, measuring its impact across different sectors and mapping the stakeholders. They are counting on the weight of their individual commitment and their strength as a collective to contribute to the struggle.

Like Alice Djiba, Yacine Sow, a social worker, says the training showed her how to draw on her individual experience to make a difference in communities. “I now know how to encourage them to take action through small initiatives that can help drive change.”

Empowerment, solidarity and support

The national and subregional context, stereotypes and lack of information will certainly make the task more difficult, but the Sahel Activists are determined to see their plans through. They believe it is urgent to act and play a decisive role in raising public awareness, drawing on the commitment of influential stakeholders through digital technology.

“Over these five days, we were equipped with a better understanding of inequality so we can develop high-impact personal and collective projects to reduce it,” said Malamine Badiane, a community worker and volunteer at Corps Africa who took part in the training.

The Sahel Activists in Senegal create the SenEgalité platform

As in the other countries involved in the project, the Sahel Activists in Senegal defined inequality as a situation in which a large part of the population, particularly vulnerable groups, is denied rights and services that are accessible only to a privileged minority. Reinforced by misconceptions and prejudice, inequality takes the form of socio-economic discrimination, limited access to resources and low levels of participation in shaping and implementing public policy.

Aware, too, of the importance of taking gender into account in efforts to reduce inequality, the young change-makers believe it is necessary to mobilise influential stakeholders to promote women’s empowerment, incorporate gender considerations into more inclusive public policies, and improve women’s access to basic social services and the means of production.

According to Ms Seck, a gender expert at WiLDAF, inequality is also reflected in “gaps affecting men and women in terms of having their needs met, and taking part in management and decision-making at family and community level”. She therefore advocates taking gender into account when developing more inclusive public policies.

The Sahel Activists in Senegal believe it is urgent to develop a new narrative that takes socio-economic inequalities into account and reflects a better understanding of gender. Building on their commitment and influence, they have created the SenEgalite platform, which aims to become a reference point in the fight against inequality by providing Senegalese internet users with a database and reliable information about inequality in schools. An education programme on gender and civic engagement to reduce inequality will also be rolled out.

Ms Aminata Mbengue: “I was impressed by the methodology and approaches used by AfricTivistes”

At the end of the training, Ms Aminata Mbengue, project coordinator for strengthening civic mobilisation and good practices adapted to reducing inequality in the Sahel at Oxfam, encouraged young people to take part in the fight against inequality. She added that she was “impressed by the methodology and approaches used by AfricTivistes to encourage young people to co-create and build together…”

The next stop on the Sahel Insight roadshow is Burkina Faso, from 21 to 25 February 2022.