CREATE! is building new opportunities for men in Senegal. In CREATE!’s three new partner communities in Guinguineo District, men are excited to contribute to cooperative agriculture programs! Currently, 24 men and 35 women are participating in agricultural training sessions held at the Walo community garden site. There are also many men active in the Gagnick Mack and Darou Diadji cooperative groups.
Both men and women attend agricultural training sessions in the community of Gagnick Mack.
Mbaye Diouf, 54, is a volunteer with the cooperative group in Gagnick Mack. He loves CREATE!’s dynamic and participatory approach. Members of the cooperative group, he says, “find common ground on everything we do.” Mr. Diouf adds that he “has great hope in CREATE! programs and looks forward to great success for my community in the future.”
Men help conduct heavy labor in the cooperative garden sites, such as clearing brush and building fences.
CREATE! training programs offer men the opportunity to acquire new skills and to pursue new income generating activities. There are few job options in rural Senegal and many men travel to Dakar or other cities to look for work. By learning skills such as vegetable cultivation, water pump installation and maintenance, and tree planting, men may not need to look elsewhere for employment. The men are thrilled to be working with their families and neighbors to reduce poverty in their communities. They are also happy to have the opportunity to work with CREATE!’s highly trained field technicians, who are good role models for ambitious young men.
Yacine Diop, a teacher in Gagnick Mack, says, “CREATE! programs are important because they offer us new skills and knowledge.”
Yacine Diop of Gagnick Mack, 36, believes that “CREATE! should be a model of development throughout Senegal.” With CREATE! training, both men and women are able to support their families while remaining in their villages.