Sowing seeds of the future in Senegal

(ANS – Tambacounda) – More than 1,000 students from five schools in Tambacounda, Senegal, are taking part in an initiative that combines environmental education, food sovereignty and community participation. The “Formation for the creation of agroecological gardens for women and young people in Tambacounda” project, promoted by the Spanish Salesian NGO “Bosco Global” with funding from the Tenerife City Council, is making steady progress with awareness-raising activities in schools and practical formation in agroecology.

The initiative has a very clear focus: agroecological formation, improving vegetable gardens and environmental education. The aim is to strengthen the community’s economic opportunities and its capacity to care for the land in the face of climate change, as well as to improve family nutrition and support the processes of self-reliance led by women and young people in the community. In total, the project directly involves 60 women and 40 young people, as well as students and teaching staff from the participating educational centres, in the Tambacounda region.

The initiative began last December with a series of sharing sessions among the participants: this provided an initial opportunity to get to know one another, organise themselves and receive the necessary materials to start work in the agroecological vegetable gardens. Since then, women and young people have been deepening their knowledge of sustainable horticultural techniques thanks to the formation received and, at the same time, are becoming bearers of this knowledge within their communities.

Raising awareness of caring for our shared home

One of the most significant activities is taking place in five educational centres in the Tambacounda region. There, the project’s technical staff, together with the women and young people in formation, are raising students’ awareness of respect for the environment, the sustainable management of natural resources and caring for the land.

Environmental management committees, made up of students and teaching staff, are being set up in each centre. These groups receive formation on tending vegetable gardens, eco-friendly practices and tree planting, before sharing what they have learnt with the rest of the educational community. In this way, knowledge does not remain confined to a single classroom: it multiplies, is shared and transforms into a chain of care.

The Tambacounda area is a region with great agricultural potential, but one that also faces numerous challenges linked to soil degradation, water scarcity and climate variability. In light of this reality, the initiative promoted by “Bosco Global” addresses the needs identified together with the women and young people of the area, such as improving nutrition, providing agroecological formation, strengthening economic autonomy and creating opportunities for young people, so that they are not forced to migrate from their land.

In Tambacounda, every tree planted, every vegetable garden tended and every lesson shared speaks of the future, because when a young person learns new farming techniques, or when a woman strengthens her independence, or when a group of students discovers that caring for the land means caring for life, the whole community takes a step forward.

“Bosco Global will continue to support this process alongside the communities of Tambacounda, convinced that agroecology can nourish more than just the land: it can also foster change, opportunities and hope,” the organisation explains.

Source: Salesianos.info