Senegal - development cooperation 2013-2015
The overall objective of the Italian Cooperation in Senegal is to fight against poverty through the economic empowerment of the most vulnerable groups and change agents.
From a methodological point of view, Italy aims to play a role in the EU coordination and to act as a multi-actor cooperation system, valuing the contribution of the various parties.
The progressive regional and sectoral concentration of Italian programs, undertaken in 2010, will be strengthened and consolidated in the next Country Programme 2014-2016, based on similar amounts to the previous policy cycle. An exercise of capitalization of lessons learned from previous programs, while not yet completed, will be conducted in consultation with the national partners, in order to identify management procedures and more virtuous implementation methodologies.
The sectors in which Italy has focused its intervention in the current programming are:
1. Agriculture and Rural Development, with a budget of 30 million Euros (Program
PAPSEN "Project of support to the National Program of Investments in Agriculture - PNIA");
2. Private sector and local economic development, with 24.7 million euro (of which 23.7 million euro – 20 million euro to credit and 3.7 million Euros in donations - for PLASEPRI Program "Platform of the private sector support and enhancement of the Senegalese Diaspora in Italy "and 1 million euro for CIDEL program "innovative and Local Development Knowledge");
3. Gender and social protection, amounting to EUR 8.7 million (of which EUR 6 million for Pides program "Integrated program of economic and social development" and the remaining 2.7 million euro for PAEF Program "Program to support elementary education of girls").
Senegal is one of the countries of greatest presence of international partners, also for his important role in the regional platform. Italy participates actively in donor coordination in the framework of the Consultation Committee activities of Technical and Financial Partners (CCPTF / Groupe des 12), consisting of 12 representatives of bilateral and multilateral donors, since 2010.
This pulse organ and representative of the consultation process, extended to the entire community donor countries (Groupe des 50) constitutes the most direct interlocutor of the dialogue between donors and Government of Senegal.
Italy adheres the sectoral thematic groups of Decentralization, Rural Development, Education, Casamance area, Gender, Private Sector and Microfinance. Italy is the leader in two of its focal areas: the European Union's Gender Group, the Private Sector (SME) and is co-president respectively of the Micro Finance Group and the multi-actor Gender Group.
In Senegal, from 2008 to 2012, were made about 51 decentralized cooperation projects thanks to the financing of Abruzzo, Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Lombardy, Piedmont, Sardinia, Tuscany,Trentino Alto Adige, Valle d'Aosta and Veneto. A growing number of decentralized cooperation Italian projects in the Louga and Ziguinchor Regions also received funding from the European Union. Interesting experiences are being implemented in the regions of Kaolack and Sedhiou, where there is a concentration of bilateral programs from the Italian Cooperation. As an example of the synergies, we can mention the collaborations between banking foundations, universities, NGOs and the DGDC programs for the participation of local authoritie’s directors in studies in Italy.
In the next three years, the aim is to encourage the orientation of decentralized cooperation activities through the possibility of co-financing specific actions, consistent with local planning documents.
The new programs, with similar amounts to the previous cycle, will propose a methodology’s synthesis based in the experiences. Consequently, the programs will focus on three priority areas with allocation of resources:
1. Agriculture and Rural Development, to improve the production and marketing of fruit and vegetables products for local consumption.
2. Private sector and local economic development, to strengthen access to social economy services of proximity and to innovative economy.
3. Social protection and gender, to reduce poverty through the empowerment of women and young people, and the promotion of inclusive education.
The new country program will be implemented primarily through bilateral programs, both with gift funds on credit, managed directly by the Senegalese government. The increased availability of credit funds given a different allocation of resources in the mentioned macro-sectors, which undertake about 15 million in grants (most part of them intended for Gender and Social Protection, and Education) and about 30 million euros on credit (shared between the private sector and the local economic development and Agriculture and rural development).
The sectors in which Italy has focused its intervention in the current program are:
1. Agriculture and Rural Development, with a budget of 30 million Euros (Program PAPSEN "Project of support to the National Program of Investments in Agriculture - PNIA");
2. Private sector and local economic development, with 24.7 million euro (of which 23.7 million euro – 20 million euro to credit and 3.7 million Euros in donations - for PLASEPRI Program "Platform of the private sector support and enhancement of the Senegalese Diaspora in Italy "and 1 million euro for CIDEL program "innovative and Local Development Knowledge");
3. Gender and social protection, amounting to EUR 8.7 million (of which EUR 6 million for Pides program "Integrated program of economic and social development" and the remaining 2.7 million euro for PAEF Program "Program to support elementary education of girls").