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News and Stories
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News and Stories from Senegal
Here's where you'll find updates on what we've been up to in Senegal!
Please sign up if you'd like to receive our newsletter!
Read an archive of our newsletter updates here.
Past Updates:
July 2021
An interview with our new program coordinator, Pape Malick Sarr.
Our founder, Mamadou Ndiaye, spoke with Pape Malick Sarr, our new program coordinator. We wish our prior coordinator, Reine Sylvie Manga the best. We’re glad for her that she got a full-time position. That’s part of the mission of Jeunesse Action; to have youth gain professional opportunities and advance in their goals. Read on to learn what he's been working on, and about his hopes for the future of the program.
* * *
I was introduced to Jeunesse Action movement by my friend Barham Thiam who was the former Coordinator. What attracted me to Jeunesse Action was the trust put in me to manage the project which gave me a glimpse of what it’s like to work in a professional environment. I became the coordinator after Barham Thiam, the previous coordinator got a full-time offer to teach in the public school system. My first decision was to increase the work hours. The classes used to run for 2 hours a day. I increased it to 3 hours a day because I felt we need more time with students to engage them at a deeper level. In addition, I decided to divide the two 6th grade classes into three groups of 30 students to give each tutor one group so that students can get more attention and help to prepare for the “entree en sixieme” exam. Another critical decision we made was to organize the public celebration of our students’ achievements. We held an awards ceremony to celebrate students who had made the most progress in front of the entire school community and to encourage others to work harder. We wanted to instill a thirst for success to show everyone that they too can be successful if they worked harder.
I have to admit that to handle 3 groups of students was not easy at first, but the help we got from school staff, the principal and parents made it a bit easier. We adjusted pretty quickly. One thing that helped was to divide each of our groups into subgroups of 3-4 groups and focused our attention on those students who were struggling.
We reached out to parents regularly to get them more involved. We called every week. We bought school supplies if parents could not afford it and, as a result, parents were more involved. This is significant for us because we know that parental involvement makes a big difference in terms of students’ school performance. Our program became a family affair. Many parents kept calling to thank and congratulate us and we saw better attendance on the part of students.
The pandemic did make things difficult for us because in Senegal, most schools lack basic supplies such as masks, hand sanitizer, pencils, notebooks, etc. We were able to set aside funding to buy those types of supplies and sometimes, parents themselves pitched in to help pay for supplies for the entire school. Despite these difficult circumstances, we were able to pull through and finish the school year with strong results. To me this shows what's possible when you have a group of passionate people leading a project like this.
My dream is that Jeunesse Action expands this program so that it is available year-round, not just during the school year. I think that thousand if not millions more kids can benefit from this program. I also think that the program should not just focus on education. There are many other areas of life here where young people like myself can make a difference if they are trained and supported by caring adults.
December 2020
Our newsletter has arrived!
Click here to read our first ever newsletter.
It includes updates on:
We'll be sending out newsletters quarterly from now on. Please sign up if you'd like to receive them!
November 2020
Pilot Program Success: Insights from Program Coordinator Reine Sylvie Manga
There are many challenges facing students in Senegal, especially those who come from neighborhoods that are not well off. Jeunesse Action, a non-profit founded by a Senegalese man who lives in the US, seeks to fill a critical gap in the resources that Senegalese schoolchildren have.
This past year, Jeunesse Action launched its first pilot program at one school in Guediawaye, a suburb of Dakar, Senegal. Suburbs in Senegal, like in Europe, are like the inner cities in the US — often economically disadvantaged and with struggling schools and communities.
The pilot sought to prepare students for their exit exam, known as “entrée en sixème.” If they pass, they are able to move on to seventh grade for further studies. Whether they continue their studies or not is often the defining factor in their future earnings and professional opportunities. For female students, dropping out means they are more likely to become pregnant at a young age and never enter the labor market.
Educational Challenges
The number of hours school children attend school is limited, and teachers are often on strike. When students go home, their families are not often able to help with their homework. In neighborhoods like Guediawaye, many parents are illiterate. They likely speak Wolof or another indigenous language at home.
However, schooling is all in French, so if a student’s parents don’t speak French, they can’t help with homework. For those who can afford it, they hire private tutors. But for most in neighborhoods like Guediawaye, that’s not an option.
The two subjects that students struggle with most in their exam is French and math, so that’s what the tutors focus on the most. If students struggle with French, it's hard for them to understand much else, including math. Since most students don’t speak French at home, the tutors encourage them to practice their French with each other during the tutoring sessions.
In talking with Sylvie, the coordinator on the ground, the lack of familial resources is just part of what Jeunesse Action helps with. Students also lack other types of enrichment, there’s no creative outlet and the few activities after school are limited to sports. So Sylvie sought to plan creative activities, asking the students what they wanted to do.
She did the kind of projects which would be somewhat standard in an American context but are rare in a public Senegalese school. She asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. When students wrote out what they wanted to be and why, she was able to tie their career goals to their studies. She’d say, “oh, you want to be a pilot? That’s great, to do that you need to study hard and you need to take this type of classes.”
Making connections between current studies and future career goals is an important motivator for students. These sessions also provide “opportunities for students to express themselves and their creativity,” Sylvie says.
Academic Tutoring During COVID-19
Not even COVID-19 got in the way of the program.
When schools were closed, as they were all over the world, Sylvie and her team of tutors continued over Whatsapp, a messaging app that most students had access to via a phone of someone in their household. They’d send lessons out on Mondays, which was due on Wednesdays. Teachers would correct the assignment then and both before and after this deadline students could ask questions of their tutors, either in the group chat or individually.
Big Sisters and Big Brothers
Another difference between what students encountered during the school day and what Jeunesse Action provides is the rapport between the tutors and the students. It is more informal and laid back than the regular school day.
“We didn’t come as teachers, but as big sisters and big brothers to just help them to succeed. They come to have fun, too. We take breaks and have a snack together. We chat and tease each other,” Sylvie said.
Making learning fun and relating to each other on a more familial level fosters a level of comfort and bonding that might not happen in the regular school day. Also, sometimes students faced difficulties at home, and they were able to talk to their tutors about it.
This helped a lot of students come out of their shells. Many students were shy at first, especially the girls. But they became more outgoing, and Sylvie always emphasized that they shouldn’t be ashamed if they didn’t understand something. It’s provided Sylvie and the other tutors with important professional development opportunities, they, in turn, are able to be role models for the students of what they can do with a good education.
The Future of Jeunesse Action
When asked what she’d like to see for the future of the program, Sylvie spoke of the students who would wait outside and ask to come and be a part of the pilot program.
The number of participants was limited for the pilot due to funding and wanting to test things out first. But she feels we’re ready to expand and she hated to turn eager students away. She’d love to include students from the grade below so they have even more time to prepare for their exam. And lastly, to include more of the type of creative extracurricular activities that students enjoy.
Here's where you'll find updates on what we've been up to in Senegal!
Please sign up if you'd like to receive our newsletter!
Read an archive of our newsletter updates here.
Past Updates:
July 2021
An interview with our new program coordinator, Pape Malick Sarr.
Our founder, Mamadou Ndiaye, spoke with Pape Malick Sarr, our new program coordinator. We wish our prior coordinator, Reine Sylvie Manga the best. We’re glad for her that she got a full-time position. That’s part of the mission of Jeunesse Action; to have youth gain professional opportunities and advance in their goals. Read on to learn what he's been working on, and about his hopes for the future of the program.
* * *
I was introduced to Jeunesse Action movement by my friend Barham Thiam who was the former Coordinator. What attracted me to Jeunesse Action was the trust put in me to manage the project which gave me a glimpse of what it’s like to work in a professional environment. I became the coordinator after Barham Thiam, the previous coordinator got a full-time offer to teach in the public school system. My first decision was to increase the work hours. The classes used to run for 2 hours a day. I increased it to 3 hours a day because I felt we need more time with students to engage them at a deeper level. In addition, I decided to divide the two 6th grade classes into three groups of 30 students to give each tutor one group so that students can get more attention and help to prepare for the “entree en sixieme” exam. Another critical decision we made was to organize the public celebration of our students’ achievements. We held an awards ceremony to celebrate students who had made the most progress in front of the entire school community and to encourage others to work harder. We wanted to instill a thirst for success to show everyone that they too can be successful if they worked harder.
I have to admit that to handle 3 groups of students was not easy at first, but the help we got from school staff, the principal and parents made it a bit easier. We adjusted pretty quickly. One thing that helped was to divide each of our groups into subgroups of 3-4 groups and focused our attention on those students who were struggling.
We reached out to parents regularly to get them more involved. We called every week. We bought school supplies if parents could not afford it and, as a result, parents were more involved. This is significant for us because we know that parental involvement makes a big difference in terms of students’ school performance. Our program became a family affair. Many parents kept calling to thank and congratulate us and we saw better attendance on the part of students.
The pandemic did make things difficult for us because in Senegal, most schools lack basic supplies such as masks, hand sanitizer, pencils, notebooks, etc. We were able to set aside funding to buy those types of supplies and sometimes, parents themselves pitched in to help pay for supplies for the entire school. Despite these difficult circumstances, we were able to pull through and finish the school year with strong results. To me this shows what's possible when you have a group of passionate people leading a project like this.
My dream is that Jeunesse Action expands this program so that it is available year-round, not just during the school year. I think that thousand if not millions more kids can benefit from this program. I also think that the program should not just focus on education. There are many other areas of life here where young people like myself can make a difference if they are trained and supported by caring adults.
December 2020
Our newsletter has arrived!
Click here to read our first ever newsletter.
It includes updates on:
- Our pilot
- Staff profile
- A principal's perspective
- What's ahead
We'll be sending out newsletters quarterly from now on. Please sign up if you'd like to receive them!
November 2020
Pilot Program Success: Insights from Program Coordinator Reine Sylvie Manga
There are many challenges facing students in Senegal, especially those who come from neighborhoods that are not well off. Jeunesse Action, a non-profit founded by a Senegalese man who lives in the US, seeks to fill a critical gap in the resources that Senegalese schoolchildren have.
This past year, Jeunesse Action launched its first pilot program at one school in Guediawaye, a suburb of Dakar, Senegal. Suburbs in Senegal, like in Europe, are like the inner cities in the US — often economically disadvantaged and with struggling schools and communities.
The pilot sought to prepare students for their exit exam, known as “entrée en sixème.” If they pass, they are able to move on to seventh grade for further studies. Whether they continue their studies or not is often the defining factor in their future earnings and professional opportunities. For female students, dropping out means they are more likely to become pregnant at a young age and never enter the labor market.
Educational Challenges
The number of hours school children attend school is limited, and teachers are often on strike. When students go home, their families are not often able to help with their homework. In neighborhoods like Guediawaye, many parents are illiterate. They likely speak Wolof or another indigenous language at home.
However, schooling is all in French, so if a student’s parents don’t speak French, they can’t help with homework. For those who can afford it, they hire private tutors. But for most in neighborhoods like Guediawaye, that’s not an option.
The two subjects that students struggle with most in their exam is French and math, so that’s what the tutors focus on the most. If students struggle with French, it's hard for them to understand much else, including math. Since most students don’t speak French at home, the tutors encourage them to practice their French with each other during the tutoring sessions.
In talking with Sylvie, the coordinator on the ground, the lack of familial resources is just part of what Jeunesse Action helps with. Students also lack other types of enrichment, there’s no creative outlet and the few activities after school are limited to sports. So Sylvie sought to plan creative activities, asking the students what they wanted to do.
She did the kind of projects which would be somewhat standard in an American context but are rare in a public Senegalese school. She asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. When students wrote out what they wanted to be and why, she was able to tie their career goals to their studies. She’d say, “oh, you want to be a pilot? That’s great, to do that you need to study hard and you need to take this type of classes.”
Making connections between current studies and future career goals is an important motivator for students. These sessions also provide “opportunities for students to express themselves and their creativity,” Sylvie says.
Academic Tutoring During COVID-19
Not even COVID-19 got in the way of the program.
When schools were closed, as they were all over the world, Sylvie and her team of tutors continued over Whatsapp, a messaging app that most students had access to via a phone of someone in their household. They’d send lessons out on Mondays, which was due on Wednesdays. Teachers would correct the assignment then and both before and after this deadline students could ask questions of their tutors, either in the group chat or individually.
Big Sisters and Big Brothers
Another difference between what students encountered during the school day and what Jeunesse Action provides is the rapport between the tutors and the students. It is more informal and laid back than the regular school day.
“We didn’t come as teachers, but as big sisters and big brothers to just help them to succeed. They come to have fun, too. We take breaks and have a snack together. We chat and tease each other,” Sylvie said.
Making learning fun and relating to each other on a more familial level fosters a level of comfort and bonding that might not happen in the regular school day. Also, sometimes students faced difficulties at home, and they were able to talk to their tutors about it.
This helped a lot of students come out of their shells. Many students were shy at first, especially the girls. But they became more outgoing, and Sylvie always emphasized that they shouldn’t be ashamed if they didn’t understand something. It’s provided Sylvie and the other tutors with important professional development opportunities, they, in turn, are able to be role models for the students of what they can do with a good education.
The Future of Jeunesse Action
When asked what she’d like to see for the future of the program, Sylvie spoke of the students who would wait outside and ask to come and be a part of the pilot program.
The number of participants was limited for the pilot due to funding and wanting to test things out first. But she feels we’re ready to expand and she hated to turn eager students away. She’d love to include students from the grade below so they have even more time to prepare for their exam. And lastly, to include more of the type of creative extracurricular activities that students enjoy.
Perspectives from the Principal of Ecole Daroukhane, Mr. Diedhiou
Mr Diedhiou has been the principal of Ecole Daroukhane for 5 years. He found out about Jeunesse Action through a friend. Speaking of the difficulties his community faces, he said “It is difficult for us as educators to do our job. We have to show students that their education has value. Parents often prefer to use what little money they have for food, rather than investing in education or in the school.”
He believes he is a positive example to the students since he is also from the neighborhood and went on to university as well as has a Master’s degree. He wants to show his students that “people from the banlieu can succeed.”
Diedhiou said that the influence that the program has had on the students and the school has been very positive. He only wishes that more students could participate. He explained that there isn’t a full school day every day, so Jeunesse Action is able to hold its sessions when the kids aren’t in school and wouldn’t have any help with their work. Some school days are only half days, for example. He himself has attended some of the tutoring sessions and was pleased with what he observed.
Diedhiou is concerned that the students who are behind and face challenges will face more challenges due to the school closures that are a result of COVID-19. He therefore sees the continuation and expansion of the pilot program as crucial. This year, 11% more students at Ecole Daroukhane passed the exam than the prior year. This is a considerable improvement especially in the context of the school closures.
He also mentioned that some of the classrooms had equipment that was in poor condition, and hoped that the program could perhaps help to finance some repairs to things like chalkboards and donate basic school supplies.
Mr Diedhiou has been the principal of Ecole Daroukhane for 5 years. He found out about Jeunesse Action through a friend. Speaking of the difficulties his community faces, he said “It is difficult for us as educators to do our job. We have to show students that their education has value. Parents often prefer to use what little money they have for food, rather than investing in education or in the school.”
He believes he is a positive example to the students since he is also from the neighborhood and went on to university as well as has a Master’s degree. He wants to show his students that “people from the banlieu can succeed.”
Diedhiou said that the influence that the program has had on the students and the school has been very positive. He only wishes that more students could participate. He explained that there isn’t a full school day every day, so Jeunesse Action is able to hold its sessions when the kids aren’t in school and wouldn’t have any help with their work. Some school days are only half days, for example. He himself has attended some of the tutoring sessions and was pleased with what he observed.
Diedhiou is concerned that the students who are behind and face challenges will face more challenges due to the school closures that are a result of COVID-19. He therefore sees the continuation and expansion of the pilot program as crucial. This year, 11% more students at Ecole Daroukhane passed the exam than the prior year. This is a considerable improvement especially in the context of the school closures.
He also mentioned that some of the classrooms had equipment that was in poor condition, and hoped that the program could perhaps help to finance some repairs to things like chalkboards and donate basic school supplies.
Links to other organizations in Senegal working on youth-related issues:
Mouvement Africain des Enfants et Jeunes Travailleurs (African Youth and Young Workers Movement)
Synapse Center
Mouvement Africain des Enfants et Jeunes Travailleurs (African Youth and Young Workers Movement)
Synapse Center