Senegal

With an indicative financial envelope of EUR 154 million, of which EUR 14 million comes from the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity’s Climate and Energy Fund, ICP V covers a seven-year period (2024-2030), and is aligned with Senegal’s priority development objectives. It therefore constitutes the second partner country for Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation in which a whole-of-government approach will be implemented, following the example of Cabo Verde.

ICP V focuses on four priority areas, namely health and social protection; technical and vocational training, employability and integration into the job market, focusing on financial inclusion and the socio-economic empowerment of women and young people; water and sanitation from an environment and climate change viewpoint; and the governance, coordination, monitoring and inclusion of cross-cutting themes in the implementation of the new ICP. These cross-cutting themes are human rights, gender in its multi-dimensional aspects, inclusive governance and environmental sustainability.

In parallel with the formulation of the new bilateral programmes, which started in the last half of 2023, the activities of ICP IV continued, with progress made, in particular, under the two bilateral programmes implemented by LuxDev: “health and social protection” and “technical and vocational training and employability”.

Key interventions in the field of health include strengthening the emergency medical assistance services by setting up four centres to receive and handle calls, 25 mobile emergency services and 15 new emergency services upgraded with specialised equipment, as well as 3 resuscitation services. In the field of integration into the job market, in collaboration with the private sector, 189 young people were trained in digital and coding occupations, with 146 of them certified and a successful graduation rate of 71%.

In view of the impact of digital professions on the country’s young people and its economy, Senegal and Luxembourg decided to build the “Centre of Excellence for Digital Professions (CRMN)” in the new town of Diamniadio. This modern infrastructure will be solely dedicated to training in the digital professions. Work started in August 2023. In 2023, Luxembourg also positioned itself as a leader in a Team Europe Initiative (TEI) in Senegal, involving several European partners (EU, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland), in the field of professional training and integration around the sports professions. This is against the background of the Summer Youth Olympic Games due to be held in Senegal in 2026.

Two multilateral projects were finalised in 2023: a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) project to improve access to high-quality health care for the most vulnerable groups, with a particular focus on sexual and reproductive health, maternal and neonatal health and medical and surgical emergencies, as well as a project implemented by the International Labour Office (ILO) that focused on entrepreneurship training as part of vocational training.

In the field of humanitarian aid, in 2023 Luxembourg contributed EUR 500,000 to support school feeding in Senegal, as part of its strategic partnership (SPF) with the World Food Programme (WFP).

In 2023, ten Luxembourgish NGOs (ECPAT, Frères des Hommes, Guiden a Scouten fir eng Welt, Handicap International Luxembourg, PADEM, Pharmaciens Sans Frontières, SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde, SANA, Chaîne de l’Espoir Luxembourg and SOS Sahel International Luxembourg) have implemented development projects in Senegal in various areas such as basic social services, health and sanitation, education and vocational training, agricultural development, women’s equality and democratic participation.