Senegal River Valley: The World Bank Vice President on an evaluation tour of PRDC-VFS sub-projects

The World Bank Vice President for West and Central Africa, Mr. Ousmane Diagana, has begun an evaluation tour in the Saint-Louis region to assess the implementation of the Regional Community Development Project in the Senegal River Valley (PRDC-VFS). The first stop on this tour, the municipality of Richard Toll, provided the setting for intensive discussions with all stakeholders involved in the area's territorial development.

Accompanied by a large delegation and in the presence of administrative authorities, Mayor Amadou Mame Diop, the PUMA coordinator, Dr. Ndèye Marième Samb, as well as the project management teams from Senegal and Mauritania, the Vice-President listened attentively to stakeholders in the valley. Producers, representatives of the private sector from both banks of the river, those responsible for the rice, onion, and tomato value chains, as well as youth and women's groups benefiting from the project, shared their experiences on the ground. The discussions, which took place at the Gîte d'Étape hotel in Richard Toll, focused on the project's community-based approach, job creation for young people, the development of resilient infrastructure, the enhancement of agricultural value chains, the strengthening of human capital, and the consolidation of social cohesion.

Health , infrastructure and cross-border cooperation

Following this consultation meeting, the World Bank delegation visited the maternity ward of the Thiarène health post, a project financed by the PRDC-VFS to improve access to quality healthcare and strengthen the medical facilities for the benefit of women and newborns in the area.

Mr. Ousmane Diagana's Senegalese tour continued in the commune of Mbane, marked by the official inauguration of the Diaglé municipal stadium, an infrastructure dedicated to the development of local youth. The delegation then headed to Rosso, Mauritania, to begin the second phase of this strategic mission on the other side of the Senegal River.

Funded by the World Bank to the tune of approximately $150 million for its Senegalese component over a five-year period, the PRDC-VFS is under the technical supervision of the Emergency Program for the Modernization of Border Areas and Territories (PUMA). It targets 44 municipalities spread across the departments of Saint-Louis, Dagana, Podor, Matam, Kanel, and Bakel. With tangible benefits already observed among local communities, the program is proving to be a key driver of economic transformation and social resilience in the region.