Senegal’s National Strategy Promotion of Green Jobs

Senegal’s National Strategy Promotion of Green Jobs

In 2015, with the support of the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), the Government of Senegal elaborated Senegal’s National Strategy for the Promotion of Green Jobs (SNEV Strategy) in a participatory manner. The SNEV Strategy is in part being implemented through the Support Programme for the Creation of Green Jobs Opportunities (PACEV), which is funded by the Government of Senegal and UNDP and supported financially and technically by PAGE. Through PACEV, the SNEV Strategy has taken a great first step, but it needs more financial support and further improvement. The strong political will behind the SNEV Strategy, which is currently being evaluated, indicates that it is likely that the Strategy will be continued beyond 2020.  Due to its future-just vision, the positive early socio-economic and environmental results, its participatory approach, and its respect for the Future Justice Principles (5.5/7), the SNEV Strategy is recognized with Future Policy Vision Award 2019, awarded by the World Future Council in partnership with UNDP and ILO.

At A Glance
  • The SNEV Strategy serves as a reference framework for green jobs in a resilient economy. It focuses on strengthening the legislative, institutional and regulatory framework; creating green job opportunities; building human capacities; developing an appropriate financing policy; advocacy; and setting up mechanisms for monitoring and sustainability. 
  • In 2015, the goal was to create 5,000 decent and sustainable green jobs within seven years (by 2022).  As of June 2019, about 2,000 jobs have been created, indicating PACEV is gradually on its way to achieving its initial targets.
  • Of the green jobs projects that have been created, 24% have been successful and 64% were implemented satisfactorily. Young people and women constitute the majority of beneficiaries.
  • Recycling, aquaculture and forestry projects all generated a return on investment in the second year of production.  PACEV has also led to first steps towards institution-building, inspiring the establishment of a National Platform on Green Economy

Policy Reference

Senegal’s National Strategy for the Promotion of Green Jobs (SNEV Strategy), 2015-2020

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Senegal’s National Strategy for Economic and Social Development (2013-2017)

Selection as a Future-Just Policy

SNEV shows how a participatory and collaborative approach can lead to great success. The strong political will behind the programme has strengthened the legislative, institutional and regulatory framework of Senegal – leading to the creation of green jobs. Sustainability is at the core of the programme, which is funded and technically supported by the UNDP. 

In the programmes short lifetime, it has started providing decent and sustainable jobs, gradually moving towards its initial targets. The Programme has successfully targeted young people and women, constituting most of its beneficiaries. For its noteworthy future vision, the SNEV Strategy is recognized with Future Policy Vision Award 2019.

  Future-Just Policy Score Card

  • Our “Best Policies” are those that meet the Future Just Lawmaking Principles and recognise the interconnected challenges we face today. The goal of principled policy work is to ensure that important universal standards of sustainability and equity, human rights and freedoms, and respect for the environment are taken into account. It also helps to increase policy coherence between different sectors.


  Sustainable use of natural resources

  • In line with the SDGs and Agenda 2030.
  • Promotes rational and sustainable use of the country’s available resources, i.e. forestry, plastic waste recycling, empowerment of people.
  • Benefits from strong political support, support from local communities.
  • Global budget of 200 million CFA franc; not sufficient to reach set goals, but a good start and a lot can be done with limited resources.

 Equity and poverty eradication

  • Overall focus on young women and men (30-40 years), mostly unemployed and rural, includes women (55%), people with reduced mobility, also urban.
  • Mindful of territorial fairness.
  • Promotes self-employment, local entrepreneurship to empower young people.
  • Operationalized through PACEV.

  Precautionary approach

  • Globally promotes prevention and precautionary approach to human health and natural resources, avoiding negative consequences; no scientific proof.
  • For instance, the promoted waste management is an important factor to improve public health, the use of better ovens and organic charcoal, etc.
  • Annual SNEV report done. Impact evaluation not yet available.
  • Inspired by green economy/jobs reports and based on international conventions such CBD, UNCCD, with climate change at the core of the strategy.

  Public participation, access to information and justice

  • Developed in a participatory consultation process with 5 workshops in all regions of Senegal, involving NGOs, state officials, youth and women.
  • Youth organisations are involved in implementation, as project beneficiaries.
  • Encourages participation and interaction of youth with their peers and the community.
  • Works very transparently but not all the information is available online yet (due to current reorganisation process in the Ministry).
  • No means available to communicate more (i.e. in schools, via radio), also the budget not sufficient to support more people.

  Good governance and human security

  • Good governance, the mechanisms and institutions meet regularly. Adequate evaluation and monitoring mechanisms, but no regional committees yet.
  • Measures against corruption (Gives first up to 70% of project material, later if successful 30% is given in cash).
  • Recognizes that some beneficiaries are women and youth without any means to reimburse, reflects on maximizing safeguards to limit abuse.

  Integration and interrelationship

  • Integrated into the National Policy on Youth Employment, National Employment Strategy, Emerging Senegal Plan and taken into account by other sectors.
  • Encourages joint decision-making but no intersectoral coordination mechanism.
  • Contributes to stop the rural exodus and emigration, integrates youth and produces a better social stability, sustainable manages natural resources.

  Common but differentiated responsibilities

  • Takes into account and addresses territorial inequalities.
  • Appropriate and adapted to the existing level of technology, scientific knowledge, financial and human resources, respects cultural and social values.
  • Highly inclusive: does not impose inappropriate charges on vulnerable groups, tries to adapt to each circumstance, but to also maintain a minimum of rules.

Context

To promote green jobs, Senegal launched a first pilot project in 2012 with the support of Dutch Cooperation, for which the Ministry of the Environment set itself the objective of creating 2,000 sustainable and decent green jobs for young people and women. Moreover, since 2012, Senegal has been seeking to harmonize the laws and regulations and international and regional instruments related to the green economy ratified by the State. In 2013, Senegal put in place a National Economic and Social Development Strategy (SNDES) that seeks to reduce the impact of shocks that directly threaten people’s lives. In June 2014, Senegal started to cooperate with the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE, a joint initiative on green economy by UNEP, ILO, UNIDO, UNITAR and UNDP) in the form of an exploratory study mission, which allowed to consult the various national stakeholders and development partners concerned with the green economy. This cooperation led to the development of an initial action plan that was later transformed into a framework to serve as a reference document for collaboration between Senegal and the PAGE agencies.

Senegal’s National Strategy for the Promotion of Green Jobs (SNEV) was formulated in 2015 through a participatory process, involving workshops in all regions of the country. In June 2015, a Southern Eco-regional workshop was organized by the Green Financing and Partnerships Directorate of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, in collaboration with PAGE and the ILO. Attendees to the workshop included Kolda civil servants, local authorities, NGOs, CBOs and green job promoters, from the regions of Kédougou, Tambacounda, Ziguinchor, Sédhiou and Kolda. In November 2015, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, in collaboration with PAGE and social partners, organized the first 2-day conference on the green economy. The aim of the conference was to offer national stakeholders a platform for exchange and sharing of experiences on the transition to a green economy in Senegal.

Currently, in order to have the basis for decision-making in 2020 and to decide how the strategy will be continued, an evaluation of the SNEV is underway. It appears there is a strong political will to continue with the SNEV in the future.

Objectives

The SNEV Strategy serves as a reference framework for green jobs in a resilient economy. It focuses on strengthening the legislative, institutional and regulatory framework; creating green job opportunities; building human capacities; developing an appropriate financing policy; advocacy; and setting up mechanisms for monitoring and sustainability. 

Methods of Implementation

The SNEV Strategy is mainly implemented through the PACEV programme. Through PACEV it promotes inclusive entrepreneurship that is more open to youth and women (especially the heads of poor, low-income households) and has four main functions: 1. To provide the necessary information, in the form of awareness, knowledge, technology and know-how; 2. To offer the incentives to boost engagement with low-income communities; 3. To launch the investments required by companies; and 4. To support implementation, in terms of logistics, transactions, and marketing. 

In particular, it promotes and develops new sectors for green jobs creation, such as distributing and maintaining mobile kiosks with solar panels, a drinking water production sector, and a sector recycling energy efficient lamps. It also reinforces and consolidates existing sectors, such as urban and rural waste valorization, aquaculture, sustainable agriculture and forestry. Furthermore, it provides capacity building and training for actors for sustainable green jobs.  In terms of monitoring, an independent mid-term evaluation was undertaken of PACEV in 2018. A final evaluation will take place in 2020. 

The 5-year budget of PACEV is USD 5 million.  An additional five-year budget of €304,898 (200 million CFA franc) is provided to the SNEV measures beyond PACEV (not all has yet been mobilized). 

Impact

In 2015, about 1,000 jobs in target regions were created with the support of PAGE and the ILO.  By June 2019, it was reported that about 2,000 green jobs had been created.

According to a report evaluating SNEV’s implementation from 2013 until 2017, about 24% of the projects have been successful and 64% of projects were implemented satisfactorily, whilst 9% of the projects had to be put on hold. Among the projects that have been successfully carried out, include, for example: the Proplast Industrie SARL’s plastic waste collection and recycling project which created more than 50 jobs and consolidated 200 green jobs; the project to collect forest seeds from kéwré (Leppeuy Bakh Group) involving more than 100 women (20 direct and 75 indirect green jobs); and the agroforestry project to support rural entrepreneurship in the village of Thiedèly (GIE des Femmes de Thiedèly), empowering more than 100 women, with 30 families benefitting from the yields and 50 green jobs created. The majority of project beneficiaries are young people (male and female) and women. Out of 43 funded projects, 16 are led by women and 8 by young people and women, while the remaining 19 are implemented by young people. Recycling, aquaculture and forestry projects all generated a return on investment in the second year of production and created new jobs. 

The Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) of the SNEV action plan of 2018 indicates that there was an implementation rate of 48%. Additional accomplishments include the establishment of a monitoring and evaluation system, of databases and the evaluation of impacts at the economic, social and environmental levels, and of green job courses in institutes and vocational training centres to develop the skills of young people and women. Highlighted problems include: insufficient resources to finance green jobs; failure to meet the target to provide access to finance to young entrepreneurs; the lack of an established support fund;  lack of clear vision on the green economy despite strong political will;  and the need for greater involvement of the private sector.

Potential as a Transferable Model

The policy is being taken as a model by other countries such as Burkina Faso and Ghana. Cooperation with Burkina Faso is strong.  Many elements of the SNEV are transferable and countries such as Gambia or Mauritania may be interested. Senegal is cooperating in particular with Ghana and Burkina Faso.

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