TAXAWU JIGEEN

Action sociale pour les femmes

Bild: Katja Müllermehr erfahren — Image: Katja Müller

The project

Initial situation

Many families in Senegal live in poverty. Some children and young people do not attend school at all or can only stay in school for a few years. As a result, many women can neither read nor write and do not understand the official language, French. If they also do not receive practical training, their chances of becoming economically independent are poor. Thus, they can contribute little to the financial upkeep of the family and are often dependent on the family or on their husband and his family. Learn more.

The "Taxawu Jigeen" project

"Taxawu Jigeen" (pronounced: Tachawu Tschigeen) means "the woman standing up" in the Wolof language spoken in Senegal. The project was successfully launched at the beginning of February 2017. It is aimed at young women from poor backgrounds who have so far had little or no access to school and practical education. The project provides a two-year apprenticeship as a seamstress and fabric dyer. This includes practical training, French lessons and lessons in "Éducation Familiale et Sociale (EFS)" (nutrition, contraception, budget planning, dealing with violence, etc.). The participants also learn to plant various vegetables and acquire further practical basic knowledge in the areas of hairdressing, screen printing, recycling, etc. During the training, the women work together in small groups. These groups continue to serve as a network after the apprenticeship.

After completing their training, the young women are given the opportunity to gain an insight into work of a seamstress by working in a studio for a period of time. Both practical training and teaching are currently carried out by women and men. In the longer term, the aim is for most staff to be women to teach and to serve as role models for young women.

The project is continuously reviewed regarding the quality of training and organization. Improvements are made and new ideas are implemented on site. Those responsible in Senegal also have the task of accompanying the graduates for a further six months after the end of the training year and supporting them on their professional path.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

Young women from the poorest backgrounds should be enabled to shape their future independently, to build up a professional foothold after these two years, individually or together, to contribute to or even to be able to independently manage their care to achieve the highest possible level of independence.

The young women should:

gain (greater) financial independence by learning a profession,
improve the possibilities of communication with the authorities by catching up on or improving a basic school education and increase the chance of employment,
be sensitized to certain topics by addressing real problems in EFS lessons,
can contribute to the family's diet or earn money by learning how to grow vegetables, and
inspire and support each other in cooperation with other women.

About us

The Taxawu Jigeen project began as a collaboration between Mbaye Sène, Rosita Rudin and Anja Rudin following several mutual visits between Switzerland and Senegal in 2016 - 2017.

Bild: Katja Müller — Image: Katja Müller

Mbaye Sène

MBAYE SÈNE

For some 20 years, Mbaye Sène, a historian with additional training in project management, has been the director of the David Diop Mendès School, which he co-founded in 1997. Thanks to his extensive knowledge and decades of experience in the local education system, Mbaye’s school has succeeded in providing access to more than 1000 children from poor backgrounds to a future of economic independence. Learn more .

Mbaye Sène is the coordinator and local manager of the association "Taxawu Jigeen – action sociale pour les femmes", based in the municipality of Diamaguène Sicap Mbao on the outskirts of Dakar.

“In my opinion, women’s economic independence is the key to socio-economic progress in Africa in general and in Senegal in particular. That is why I am committed to this project.”

— Mbaye Sène

Abdoulaye KeÏta

Abdoulaye Keita is co-director of the David Diop Mendès school. A qualified teacher with further training in school management and communication, he is responsible for both the pedagogical and administrative management of the project "Taxawu Jigeen – action sociale pour des femmes".

Growing up in tight economic circumstances, Abdoulaye Keita experienced first-hand the difficulties that people of humble origins have to deal with, mainly due to a lack of education and training. He is therefore convinced that improving the living conditions, especially of women, through (vocational) training is one of the most effective means of combating poverty in Africa and enabling development.

Here (in German) you can find an NZZ Folio article, including about Abdoulaye Keïta

Bild: Abdoulaye Keïta — Image: Abdoulaye Keïta

FLTR: Maria Vogel, Dieter Winistoerfer, Rosita Rudin and Franziska Stoffer (Anja Rudin not in the picture)
Image: Harald Beck

FRIENDS ASSOCIATION

Our Board members:

Rosita Rudin, president of the association and co-founder of the project, works as a socio-pedagogical family companion. She has known Mbaye Sène since 2016.
Anja Rudin, co-founder of the project, spent three months living with Mbaye Sène and his family in Dakar in 2016. She works for a human rights organisation.
Maria Vogel, a French teacher at the Münchenstein Gymnasium, met Mbaye Sène in 2004 and subsequently invited her several times to speak to her class.
Alina Spörri, socio-cultural animator, spent two months in Dakar with Mbaye Sène's family in 2009. Since then, she has supported the work of her "père sénégalais".
Dieter Winistoerfer, a high school teacher in Oberwil, has long been concerned with questions of Africa's development and underdevelopment, and has addressed these issues in his lessons. Mbaye Sène appeared several times as a guest school speaker.