Economic Growth Senegal Project #48197

Water and Food for 2,000 People in Rural Senegal

by Center for Renewable Energy and Appropriate Technology for the Environment (CREATE!)

Project Report | Feb 9, 2024
Fields of Change: Nourish Community, Empower Women

By Lucy Wesson | Development Coordinator

Friends,

In rural Senegal, agriculture is a way of life. As such, communities have identified the pressing need for clean, perennial water access to cultivate their farms and nourish their families. CREATE!’s projects aim to address the profound interconnections between climate change, water access, food security, community health, and poverty. In this process, we strive to advance opportunities for women in these rural communities. Women’s integration into programming, agricultural trainings, and microfinance techniques allows beneficiaries to redefine their connection to their homes, fostering new ways to nourish their communities and generate income.

Our climate smart projects use solar pumps and rehabilitated wells to improve perennial water access and train women to use that water for year-round organic food production in the desert-like Sahel region. This not only enhances nutrition, breaking the cycle of intergenerational malnutrition, but also generates income through surplus produce sales, fostering financial empowerment for women and their families. Numerous communities leverage the revenue generated from selling produce to form Voluntary Savings and Lending Associations (VSLAs). Through these associations, members engage in a collaborative effort to save money and access small loans. This initiative is particularly meaningful for individuals with limited literacy, as VSLAs prioritize inclusivity, offering a locally available solution that fills the void left by conventional banking institutions.

We recognize that women’s financial literacy and entrepreneurial capacity plays a pivotal role in improving the health and welfare of a community and drives meaningful change. For this report we would like to highlight two women from different partnership communities who have embodied this philosophy:

Mame:

On a sunny day, 78-year old Mame Nogaye Diop basks in the shade of her cooperative garden in Fass Koffe, Senegal. There, she eats her lunch, enjoying the freshly harvested fruits and vegetables and taking in the clean air – even during the hot and dry summer months. As one of the oldest participants, in one of the first partnering communities, Mame and the women of Fass Koffe have experienced many of the transformational effects of CREATE!’s initiatives. Even when the sun weighs heavy on these Senegalese villages, women find respite in their community gardens, tending to their fruit trees and organic vegetables. Access to such spaces has increased their environmental, economic, and food security, thereby improving their overall health and well-being. Mame Diop and her daughter in law both enjoy the financial independence this project has given them. As Mame herself says, she now “earns and saves money to meet all [her] needs.”

CREATE! plays a pivotal role in establishing spaces similar to Mame’s garden, which act as havens for solace, resilience, and development. Mame’s experience encapsulates the essence of self-reliance and empowerment at the heart of CREATE!’s program. Her journey underscores how our collective efforts result in tangible improvements in both the environmental and economic quality of beneficiaries’ lives. Mame, like other participants, has the support and resources she needs to grow.

Awa:

CREATE! beneficiary Awa resides in Santhie, Senegal, a village profoundly affected by climate change-induced desertification and diminished rainfall. Prior to collaboration with CREATE! she faced challenges accessing water and cultivating crops for her family. CREATE! has empowered women like Awa in Santhie and beyond, enhancing their access to water, food, safe cookstoves, shaded areas, and sources of income. Awa highlights the organization’s transformative impact, from the construction of clean cookstoves and reforestation projects, consistent access to drinking and agricultural water, the cultivation of community gardens and chicken coops, to the establishment of the invaluable Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA). “Thanks to the loan I get from the VSLA, I have registered two of [my children] at school.” CREATE!’s dedication in Santhie is but one example of the “significant impact” our climate interventions have on the daily lives of rural Senegalese women.

Awa’s story highlights how access to food and water enables income-generating activities, addressing intergenerational patterns of malnutrition and barriers to education. This nourishes both the bodies and minds of beneficiaries and propels CREATE! beyond singular interventions to confront intersecting issues.

Our organization endeavors to cultivate sustainable, environmentally responsible, and healthy communities in rural Africa, with women as the agents of change. Access to food and water forms the foundation of enduring solutions for lasting change, while VSLA programs ensure the holistic and cyclical benefits of CREATE!’s initiatives.

All of us at CREATE! would like to thank you for your generosity that has helped make this possible.

Thank you, Merci, Jerejef!

To learn more about CREATE!, check out our Blog like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram.

Mame enjoying the shade

Awa proudly discussing her involvement with CREATE

Regular VSLA meetings

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Oct 16, 2023
A new partnership taking shape

By Paulomi Bhattacharyya | CREATE! co-Executive Director & Project Leader

Women in Ngaraaf with their Harvest

Friends,

It is my pleasure to report that with your support, CREATE! has successfully started partnership with another community, helping them sustain and improve their lives and livelihoods. The aim of this project, like any other CREATE! Project, is to improve the availability of perennial water, food security, health, nutrition and livelihood opportunities of the rural community of Ngaraaf in Senegal using environmentally appropriate and sustainable methods. Situated in the Linguere region of Senegal, the community of Ngaraaf consists of 700 inhabitants practicing trade, agriculture and livestock raising. Located near to the Sahara, average annual rainfall in the region is about 11-16 inches, allowing only subsistence agricultural activities during the rainy season. Lack of perennial water was one of the biggest drawback identified by the community members for the continuation of agricultural activities. Before partnering with CREATE!, the women from the community were trying to grow vegetables in their backyard using water from the commercial tap. While this was a testament to their commitment to grow their own food, it was not an activity that was sustainable given the high cost of commercial water. The partnership with CREATE!, that began in February of 2023, has been instrumental in the community’s ability to start on a path of sustainable development, beginning with the access to water.

This first stage starts with the rehabilitation of an existing well to help improve their access to water. The well in Ngaraaf is 95 meters deep and has a 12-meter water column that is fed by the Continental Terminal of the surface aquifer system in Senegal. Once the CREATE! team was satisfied by the water available in the well, the rehabilitation work was initiated. The team then worked with local well diggers and the community members from Ngaraaf to first clean the inside of the well and then to refurbish it. After this, the next step was the installation of the solar pump and panels as well as the construction of the water basins and the platform for the water reservoir. With the reliance on sustainable and renewable technology in our work, CREATE! combines gravity fed irrigation methods with our solar pumping systems to ensure that the community garden can be efficiently irrigated. For this purpose, the water reservoir is placed on a raised platform with pipes leading down to the basins in the garden. From this year, with Ngaraaf being the first community, we have changed the design of our raised platforms to house the storage shed for all the gardening equipment below it. The solar panels are also now being installed above the reservoir and not on separate poles like before. This will make the system more efficient and resistant to wind damage. With the infrastructure for the irrigation system and the pump and panels in place, Ngaraaf started to have a regular access to water since May 2023 and has seen the supply increase steadily too.

With water from the well available for irrigation, the cooperative members of the community of Ngaraaf are able to cultivate more than 95 per cent of their community garden in less than three months. Under the guidance of agricultural trainer, Codou Gadji, the women started to meet regularly to plow the land, make organic composts, prepare the vegetable beds and establish vegetable nurseries. In fact, the women had started bringing in organic matter for composting much before activities started since they wanted the compost to be ready for them when they started planting. The first vegetable that they sowed in May 2023 was okra, followed by tomatoes, both of which are popular in Senegalese diet. By June, the okra plants were showing signs of good production; the community started harvesting in August, and till date has already harvested and sold more than 450 pounds. To ensure a continuous production of a variety of fruits and vegetables, the community planted watermelons in June and by August, sold about 100 pounds of watermelon.

The community of Ngaraaf has already embarked on the road to sustainable development. In a few months, they have started to produce nutritious vegetables that will improve their health and livelihoods. This has been made possible due to the year-long water they now have, thanks to the dedication of the community members and your support. In the coming years, we expect Ngaraaf to achieve self-sufficiency and take ownership of all their project activities with the same commitment they have shown till now.

All of us at CREATE! would like to thank you for your generosity that has helped make this possible.

Thank you, Merci, Jerejef!

Water Basins in Ngaraaf

Women from Ngaraaf making compost

Working in the community garden

Ngaraaf community garden before partnership

Ngaraaf Now!

Links:

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Jun 20, 2023
The Importance of water for food security

By Paulomi Bhattacharyya | CREATE! co-Executive Director & Project Leader

A harvest bowl from Ndiagne Kahone

Friends,

All of us at CREATE! would like to thank you for your generosity that has helped us continue partnering with rural communities in Senegal, helping them sustain and improve their lives and livelihoods. In this report, I want to highlight one of the key elements of our program, our solar pumps, without which our program can come to a standstill. The community of Ndiagne Kahone recently experienced a situation where the importance of these pumps became evident to them. This is their story.

Ndiagne Kahone partnered with CREATE! in 2020, right when the pandemic was starting. The women from the community who participated in the program learned all the sustainable activities while being mindful of the health and safety requirements. So they are no strangers to difficult situations. The training they receive from the CREATE! technicians and their own ability to persevere in the face of adversity allows them to keep continuing.

Late last year, they faced another such difficulty that nearly brought their program to a standstill. Their solar pump, that usually pumped out more than 25000 liters of water every day and allowed then to plant and harvest more than 200 pounds of nutritious vegetables every month, slowed down significantly. By end of January, the pump was just pumping out 3000 liters every day. To understand what the issue is, the CREATE! team first checked the solar panels and the connecting pipes. When those appeared to be problem free, the team took out the solar pump to clean and diagnose any problems at the level of the turbine. They did find clogging issues at the return valve that was leading to low pumping rates. CREATE! co-Executive Director in Senegal, Omar Seck, then called the pump supplier for maintenance. While the supplier taught our team and the community members on how to purge the pump of impurities, the pump at Ndiagne Kahone unfortunately needed to be replaced.

The importance of access to perennial water for agricultural production became very evident to the women from Ndiagne Kahone during these months. With pest infestations lower during the cooler months and water table in the well high from December to February, the community had envisioned producing and harvesting a lot of vegetables during these months and had planned accordingly with their nurseries and beds. But unfortunately, without water, they saw their cucumber, pepper and African eggplants dry up in front of their eyes. In fact, theylost forty-five square meters of pepper nurseries due to the stoppage of the pump. The choice of these crops had been motivated by the needs of the beneficiaries in the face of market demand. But the women from Ndiagne Kahone did not give up. They strived hard, using organic composts to retain soil moisture and even bringing in water from the village to the garden by hand to maintain some of these nurseries. They also continued all the other maintenance activities, including weeding and hoeing the soil by hand. Their efforts resulted in them able to harvest 250 pounds of vegetables on an average every month during this period. Harvest numbers were higher more due to the ample production of the papaya fruit since those trees already had well established roots and could survive water shortages.

In March, a new pump was installed thanks to support from all of you, and production went up again with the new pump restoring water access back to 25000-30000 liters every day. To make up for lost time, the community used most of this water for agriculture and produced ample amounts of okra, lettuce and eggplants. This story of perseverance is what we at CREATE! envision for all our partner communities. With our 20th partnership this year, we look forward to your continued support that makes our program possible. Thank You!

Dismantling the pump to understand the problem

Realigning the solar panels to get more water

Plants drying without water

Water flowing again after pump was replaced

Women busy at work to make up for lost time

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