Senegal

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In Senegal, Handicap International currently works on disability prevention issues and on the inclusion of disabled people.

CONTEXT
Senegal has 9 million inhabitants, of which about 2% are physically or mentally disabled. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNPD) classification, Senegal has a Human Development Indicator of 0.423 and is ranked 155th (out of 162 countries).
It is a relatively stable country socially and politically, in spite of the conflict in Casamance. This war, opposing the Senegalese army to the armed forces of the Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de la Casamance (MFDC), has been going on for 23 years. Considerable progress towards a durable peace has been made. The recent sittings of the MFDC held in 2003 confirmed the strong desire of the belligerents to lay down their arms and devote themselves to the socio-economic development of the natural region of Casamance. Casamance is an area with a lot of mine pollution, and accidents due to mines have increased in the last 4 years.

Nevertheless, movement have been made towards peace, and an agreement was signed on 30th December 2004. This should be followed by a renewal of economic and social activities, including demining projects in the zone.

Cape Verde
Cape Verde, of the Senegalese coast, is made up of an archipelago of ten islands. Its capital, Praia, situated on the island of Santiago, numbers 25 000 inhabitants. The country is ranked 105th in the world by the UNDP. 25% of Cape Verde's population still lives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank's report. Handicap International's project is based on a partnership with the ACD (Cape Verde Association of Disabled People).

Senegal signed the Treaty to Ban Landmines and participates actively in all the world conferences organised by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

As part of the administrative decentralisation undertaken by the authorities, there has been a transfer of health and education skills towards the regions. Health policies are therefore developed by local government and coordinated by the ministry. Although the Government has made efforts to respect the World Health Organisation’s recommendations to devote 9% of the national budget to this sector, the resources actually allocated are less than this and insufficient to satisfy the demand. As a result, health coverage remains very poor: only 65% of the population have access to a health service within less than 5 kilometres, and there is only 1 doctor for 13,210 inhabitants.

BACKGROUND
Handicap International has been working in Senegal since 1996 and in Casamance since 1999. Our organisation comes under the supervision of the Ministry of National Solidarity and Social Development. In addition, Handicap International is working as part of a project for education and prevention of accidents caused by landmines (Pepam Project). At the same time, activities have been carried out in Dakar aimed at the economic and social integration of disabled people.

STRATEGY
Through establishing partnerships with the main stakeholders (public institutions, international bodies, NGOs, associations, grass-roots communities), our programme is creating a network of operators working towards gaining access for disabled people to basic social services of quality, with the aim of promoting their rehabilitation as well as their social and economic integration.
The approach is one of taking the population’s basic needs into account and making the activities sustainable and reproducible elsewhere.
This strategy promotes the valorising of local knowledge and know-how, the transfer of skills and the appropriation of the projects by our partners.

ACTIVITIES

1) SUPPORTING QUALITY HEALTH SERVICES

• Decentralising orthopaedic surgery / Zinguinchor hospital
• Psychological support for victims of the conflict in Casamance

2) REINFORCING PROSTHETIC AND REHABILITATION SERVICES

• Decentralising prosthetics and functional rehabilitation.

3) SOCIO-ECONOMIC INTEGRATION OF DISABLED PEOPLE

• Support for organisations of/for disabled people.
• Economic inclusion of people affected by disability.
• Socio-professional inclusion of disabled people, via the cashew-nut industry.

All current news on “Socio-economic inclusion of disabled people”

4) ESTABLISHING REHABILITATION SERVICES IN CAPE VERDE

• Set up a national service for functional rehabilitation.
• Set up a network of care services for orthopaedic prosthetics and functional rehabilitation, for disabled people, at a national level.
• Reinforce national capacity in terms of availability and accessibility of care.

5) PREVENTING LANDMINE ACCIDENTS

• Education programme for the prevention of landmine accidents in Senegal.

BENEFICIARIES
Associations of and for people with disabilities, orthopaedic professionals, people with disabilities, the population of Casamance.

RESOURCES
A team of 40 people (including 1expatriate).

CONTACTS
HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL
Sacré Coeur 3 Villa No 9734
BP 15331 DAKAR SENEGAL
Tel: 00 221 867 50 15
Email: handicap@sentoo.sn