Changing thousands of lives…

In rural areas of Senegal, being able to wash your hands or use proper toilets at home is not something to be taken for granted. 54% of households do not have a handwashing point in their home. The Fondation SUEZ has teamed up with Gret¹, an international charity, to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable through the project “Soutoura²” and reduce waterborne diseases. This is much more than a technical project: it’s a project to promote equality and development.

Decent sanitation is not widespread in Senegal. In 2020, only 46% of the rural Senegalese population had access to improved sanitation. There are significant disparities from one region to another. Tambacounda, the largest city in eastern Senegal, is one of the hardest-hit zones in the country in terms of poverty and lack of access to water, sanitation and personal hygiene.

6,000 people (including 1,440 schoolchildren) will benefit from the installation of sanitation facilities.

720 schoolgirls will be educated in menstrual hygiene practices.

15,000 people (including 2,400 schoolchildren) will be educated in personal hygiene practices.

Massive needs in rural areas

Alongside other financial partners, the Fondation SUEZ is taking action to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of Tambacounda through the Soutoura project. Women and young people are the main beneficiaries of this development programme. In practice, the aim is to offer families access to wastewater services and promote menstrual hygiene through the development of a local economic activity. Following its launch in November 2022, this action will run until October 2024.

At the end of this 24-month period, Gret and its local partners will have delivered projects including installing sanitation in households. Six hundred autonomous sanitation devices are currently being produced by local private operators. Sanitation and hygiene in schools is also a priority, in particular with the installation of eco-designed toilet blocks (using local materials) that are both accessible and gender specific.

A mini-drinking water supply system³ is also currently being built for 400 inhabitants, while an awareness raising campaign is underway focussing on good sanitation and hygiene practices, and menstrual hygiene kits are being promoted and distributed in schools. As part of this programme, local public and private players will be able to build their skills through training and coaching.

The Fondation SUEZ supports concrete actions

In developing and emerging countries, this is materialised through improved access to essential services (water, sanitation and waste disposal). In the space of 10 years, the foundation contributed to the accomplishment of 572 projects providing six million people with access to water and sanitation.

To achieve greater impact, the Fondation SUEZ supports and collaborates closely with its major partners:

Aquassistance, the ONG run by current and former employees of SUEZ
The AgroParisTech “SUEZ - Water for All” academic chair, a unique course in the management of urban water and sanitation services in developing and emerging countries, aimed at leaders from developing and emerging countries.In France, the Fondation SUEZ supports social inclusion projects for people cut off from the job market and disadvantaged young people in priority action or rural areas.

The Soutoura project is not an isolated initiative. It follows on from two other projects led by Gret and its local partners since 2017. These have made it possible to make detailed assessments, fine-tune the means of aid and ultimately achieve significant quantitative results. With Soutoura, the aim is to consolidate the progress made, then build upon and extend the programme. While this project will change the lives of all inhabitants, the most striking improvement will be to the living conditions of girls and women.

1) Gret works in 28 countries, notably to provide access to drinking water, sanitation and solid waste disposal. The NGO has been established in Senegal since 1984.
2) “Dignity” in Wolof, the local language.
3) A technique to pump water from its source to its place of use.

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