Les Cuisines de GEMI won the setec Foundation’s Transition 2024 Fund for its project to create school kitchens in Senegal.
Background
The “Les Cuisines de GEMI” association launched its action at the end of 2021 by creating a school kitchen in the village of Sydibougou, 100 km from Dakar. The aim: to offer a midday meal to schoolchildren from modest families or living far from school. The association financed the construction of the kitchen, the establishment of a vegetable garden and the purchase of foodstuffs. Thanks to the commitment of volunteer mothers, over a hundred pupils now benefit from three meals a week.
The effects were immediate: increased enrolment, reduced absenteeism and greater student involvement. The association continues to support the school with a monthly contribution for meals, occasional help with school supplies, and plans an annual cultural outing to Dakar to open these children up to other horizons.
Objectives
The association’s aim is to make its action sustainable by adopting a model of food self-sufficiency. Currently still dependent on monthly funding for food purchases, it aims to produce part of its food on site.
Two levers are envisaged: the extension of the school’s vegetable garden, currently 120 m², to 200 m², to diversify the market garden crops grown by the pupils; and the creation of an outsourced henhouse at a partner farm to limit the health risks associated with rearing livestock. This would provide food for the canteens and generate income through resale. In the meantime, poultry is sourced from local farms.
Last but not least, a school trip to Dakar is planned to give the children an insight into the country’s culture and heritage.
Impacts
The project generates a strong, sometimes unexpected, social impact in the lives of these underprivileged children, by boosting their school attendance and commitment. While school does not solve all problems, it does offer a valuable alternative to the streets and begging. Through the self-sufficiency model promoted by the association, a seed of hope and autonomy is sown: that it is possible to feed oneself with dignity by cultivating one’s own resources locally. An essential lesson for tomorrow’s adults.
