Strengthening Agroecology and Community Resilience in Senegal
- Regenerative Agriculture
- Food Waste Reduction
- Agroecology
- Smallholder Farming
- Indigenous
- Women
- Forests
- Daughters for Earth
- Sub-Saharan Afrotropics
- Afrotropics Realm
| Bioregion | Sahel Acacia Savannas (AT23) |
| Category | Regenerative Agriculture Our project categories represent one of three core solutions pathways to solving climate change. Energy Transition focuses on renewable energy access and energy efficiency. Nature Conservation includes wildlife habitat protection and ecosystem restoration, as well as Indigenous land rights. Regenerative Agriculture supports farmers, ranchers, and community agriculture. |
| Realm | Afrotropics The Project Marketplace is organized by the major terrestrial realms divided into 14 biogeographical regions – N. America, Subarctic America, C. America, S. America, Afrotropics, Indomalaya, Australasia, Oceania, Antarctica, and the Palearctic realm, which coincides with Eurasia and is divided into Subarctic, Western, Central, Eastern, and Southern regions. |
| Status | active Seed indicates an early stage project that needs some level of support to develop into a larger funding proposal. Active indicates any project that needs core programmatic funding. Urgent indicates a short-term project initiated in response to a natural disaster or other impending risk. |
| Partner | Groundswell International |
One Earth’s Project Marketplace funds on-the-ground climate solutions that are key to solving the climate crisis through three pillars of collective action — renewable energy, ecosystem conservation, and regenerative agriculture. This project empowers women smallholder farmers through sustainable growing techniques.
For over a decade, more than 20 million people in the dryland areas of the Sahel have faced extreme hunger and poor nutrition. To survive, many vulnerable farm families are being forced to take on exploitative loans, eat seeds that should be saved for planting, and reduce the number of daily meals.
This downward spiral demonstrates the need for innovative solutions to build the resilience of farming communities.
With support, this project aims to increase productivity and food security in Senegal’s ecologically fragile, risk-prone Kaffrine region by empowering women smallholder farmers. Funding will help expand agroecology practices that regenerate the Earth, increase climate resilience, and improve livelihoods.
Image credit: Courtesy of Groundswell International
Turning home gardens into microenterprises
Supported by Groundswell International West Africa, Agrecol Afrique promotes ecological farming. The organization specializes in home garden organic vegetable production, women’s groups’ market gardening, and linking organic producers to local markets.
With support, Agrecol will provide agroecology workshops to rural women to help turn their home gardens into microenterprises and establish Market Garden sites where they can sell their products.
Training hundreds of women in agroecology
Thus far, this Agrécol project has trained 100 new women farmers to employ and experiment with sustainable innovations. It has supported 93 women in founding three Market Gardening Sites, collectively owned and farmed to produce food for household consumption and sale at local markets.
Additionally, 31 women’s savings and credit groups — locally called calabashes — have also been established to ensure best management practices, with 421 new women participating in 2022.
Image credit: Courtesy of Groundswell International
Empowering women and restoring the land
The success of this project will empower rural women to develop mutual support groups, gain access to productive resources, and learn agricultural techniques while improving household incomes and nutrition. It will support family farmers to continuously innovate and spread through farmer-to-farmer networks and an agricultural model that works with nature instead of against it.
Collectively, these agroecological practices will also contribute to the restoration of the land and its biodiversity.
This project is located in the Sahel Acacia Savannas bioregion (AT23)
Creating climate-resilient communities
This program ties directly to Agrecol Afrique’s and Groundswell International’s overall organizational goals to address the linked crises of collapsing soil fertility, declining food production, extreme hunger and undernutrition, and vulnerability to climate change in Senegal and the Sahel.
By supporting women in agroecology, food security will improve through practices that make communities more climate resilient and revitalize the Earth.