Kany Ndiaye and her seven lives in Senegal

USAID 60th anniversary

Women’s Empowerment and Entrepreneurship in Senegal

USAID has been in Senegal since the passing of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 which effectively established the Agency to combine the efforts of various foreign assistance programs. For these past six decades USAID has worked together with Senegal and its development partners to create sustainable solutions to economic challenges. A key component to this partnership is to encourage and support the economic growth of women to improve the everyday lives of Senegalese families. In celebration of the 60 year anniversary of USAID in Senegal, the stories of eight women who have benefited from USAID activities and projects in the country are featured.

Kany Ndiaye and her seven lives

‘Honorable’, this is the name given to her by her collaborators and close friends of the village of Keur Aliou Diop in the Commune of Keur Samba Gueye: ”We are all inspired by Kany Ndiaye. She’s obviously an example of leadership,” declares Abdoulaye Pouye, carpenter and colleague.They are both affiliated with the CultiVert Social Franchise, a beneficiary of  the USAID-funded Feed the Future Senegal Kawolor project. Kawolor means“abundance” in Diola, a language dialect spoken in the Casamance region of Senegal. This Feed the Future project operates in eight regions in Senegal with the goal of combating malnutrition linked to a deficient diet marked, among other things, by a deficit of animal protein. The project follows a Public - Private – Project – Partnership (4P) approach to its programming, a strategy for mobilizing financial and non-financial contributions toward meeting common objectives among partners.

Kany is committed to improving her living conditions and those of the women in her village who embrace her leadership. She is the president of her local Debo Galle group, a women’s empowerment group affiliated with the Feed the Future Senegal Kawolor project. Debbo Galle, which means XX in XX language, are groups composed of approximately 30 women who focus on issues like nutrition and horticulture techniques, with the goal of mutually educating themselves to improve resilience at the village level. Group membership requires a modest membership fee that is used to finance income-generating activities. Kany regularly hosts talks and makes home visits to improve women's knowledge on nutrition, hygienic food preparation practices and family hygiene. 

Kany grows millet, corn, peanuts and bissap (hibiscus) along with the women of her Debbo Galle group.They transform the bissap flowers into powder and the leaves of kinkeliba (Senegalese tea) into powder. The bissap can be grown year round, and has provided a steady income for Kany, who notes:  “Today, I am proud to have bought a piece of land, [and] built a house for my family and I.” Kany inspires the women of her village who work with her in the production and processing of bissap and kinkeliba by providing them loans to finance their own income-generating activities. 

In 2016, Kany was trained by the National Council for the Development of Nutrition on how to turn agricultural products into flour. Since then she has been providing 300 kg of flour, every three months, from the millet, corn, and peanuts she grows. This flour is distributed to children suffering from malnutrition. Habib Diatta, Head Nurse of the Keur Samba Gueye Commune explained: “Kany is very involved in the screening of children suffering from malnutrition... She has done a lot to facilitate children's access to high-quality compound flour at a symbolic price of 100F CFA per 500g... This gesture has greatly contributed to reducing the cases of moderate acute malnutrition in the area.” 

Kany is committed to preventing malnutrition from the outset by working with the local health centers to support women who have recently given birth. She encourages women to breastfeed exclusively and helps them with the transition to solid foods, when the time comes, by introducing the nutritious compound flour that she has prepared herself. 

In addition to the support she provides to the women of her village, Kany is also the president of the ‘Ndeeyu Daaras’ association (godmother of Daraas in Wolof) where she regularly carries out advocacy actions to encourage goodwill to support children on food security, health, and education. Kany knows how to positively use her leadership to help the inhabitants of her village improve their living conditions and regularly brings up the concerns of herself and those of women like her to the mayor who appreciates her ambition.