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Messages of support
Ndeye Seynabou TALL WADE
AFRICA · Sénégal
A true leader for the advancement of rural communities
Born in a village, Mrs. Ndeye Seynabou TALL WADE (61) was raised by her grandmother with great care and love which left a very positive mark and empowered her to do something for the poor and work with women and children in rural areas, supporting them in improving their living conditions and that helped her to feel useful. Aware of the importance of women’s role in development and sensitive to their problems related to lack of education, Mrs. Tall Wade, married with five children, works to help develop their capacities and increase their visibility in the villages.
Prior to creating in 1995 the ‘Association Sénégalaise Femmes Enfants Environnement - AFEE (an association for women, children and the environment) with partial activities in villages in the semi desert region of Fatick, near Dakar, a region where minority populations are marginalized due to their social status and illiteracy, Mrs. Tall Wade worked for 6 years in the Senegalese Ministry of Information, in charge of the radio department for rural education. She received mail from all over Senegal and presented on air the difficulties encountered by farmers, fisherfolk and animal husbandry.
AFEE objectives include sustainable human development in villages to prevent rural exodus; coordination of AFEE activities; capacity building to take on local development issues and generating local leadership. AFEE organizes missions to take up contact with its village groups to discuss the needs of the population, raise awareness and monitor various projects, such as:
- Improving the quality of life of rural populations
- Organization of child care spaces in village courtyards, 2 already constructed
- Installation of six millet grinders in different regions of the network
- Establishment of 25 cereal banks and construction of cereal bank protection shelters
against humidity and pests; 9 shelters have already been built - Establishment of a solidarity village fund allowing for small loans in emergencies
- Construction of village shops providing food stuffs, objects and credit in emergencies
- Organization of awareness raising sessions in villages and schools and occasional
distribution of children’s clothing - Giving work to village populations
- Local cereal transformation projects, employing 28 persons (24 women, 4 men)
- Promotion of cattle raising
- Supply of a harvester and a husking millet (shelling machine)
- Increasing education and capacity building
- Women’s literacy courses and training sessions for supervisors and managers
- Encouraging girls’ education
- Providing school equipment to 32 schools affiliated with AFEE
- Health promotion
- Construction of a health shelter with an ambulance
- HIV/AIDS prevention courses and awareness raising of different health problems, e.g.
malnutrition, marriage problems and early pregnancies…
AFEE’s work is an excellent example of creativity in rural life carried out with patience in favor of poor women and children. WWSF is honored to have Mrs. Tall Wade among its 2011 prizewinners and wishes long life to AFEE.
Betty MUNGA
