Elsbeth Eryou - Faculty of Social Sciences

May 25 to July 17
My Time in Senegal
Internship with ANCAR on Rural
and Agricultural Affairs
Elsbeth Eryou

A brief overview of Senegal and Development:
•Senegal has a population of 11 million, of which 95
percent are Muslim
•The population growth rate is fairly high at 2.2, creating
an overall young population
•The life expectancy in Senegal is 52 years
•The Literacy rate is very low at 45 percent for men
and 19 percent for women
•Senegal has a strong colonial background with many
different country influences, most notably France
•Interestingly Senegal has a very low rate of HIV/AIDS infections,
less than 1 percent, a fact which has been linked to the religious situation
•Senegal is rated 156 out of 177 in the Human Development Index

The Rural Communities of Gandon
and Gandiol
• For my internship I lived and worked in the rural communities of Gandon
and Gandiol
• The communities of Gandon
and Gandiol extend over 560 km²
• The population of the region is
52370 inhabitants
• As of 2007, there were 114
human establishments in the
region, of which 83 were official
villages
• The population is very young
with 78 percent under the age of
34 years old

ANCAR - “Agence Nationale de
Conseil Agricole et Rural”
• ANCAR is an interesting organization as it is a mix of a
government bureau, an NGO and the private sector.
• ANCAR is an organization which was created following the end
of the first 5 years of structural adjustment programs
implemented in Senegal. During these five years there was a top
down approach to development which did not improve the
situation and which lead to a rethinking of the development
approach.

ANCAR - “Agence Nationale de
Conseil Agricole et Rural”
• ANCAR was initially put in place at the request of the producers who
wanted an organization which would take into consideration their
opinions and which they would have some control over.
• The mission of ANCAR is to do and to pilot agricultural and rural
counselling within the entire national territory of Senegal.

Projects - Soap
• One of the projects which I observed and
assisted with was a project with a
women’s association to create revenue
through the multiplication and fabrication
of soap.

Projects - Chicken
• Another project which I assisted with
was the research and improvement
of the health of chicken production
within the rural communities. This
informal economic work is interesting
as it is considered to be the domain
of women and its revenue is
traditionally kept and used by
women. Thus this activity sought the
informally improve the situation of
women by improving the productivity
of their chicken production