2021
Created in 2015 by a team of young Senegalese doctors, AGORA is one of the first non-profit public health organization in Senegal. Recognized by the Senegalese Ministry of the Interior, the NGO aims to sustainably improve the health of local communities through the implementation of public health programs. Based in Saint-Louis, in the north of Senegal, AGORA concentrates its activities in the most isolated areas, with the most vulnerable women and children. AGORA’s programs are designed to consider the expectations and cultural specificities of the beneficiaries. Using a participatory approach, the association thus works directly alongside local communities and authorities to best meet needs and ensure the sustainability of programs.
In 2017, the Foundation supported the association AGORA to help it screen malnourished children as early as possible. Once identified, AGORA takes care of these children at a nutritional rehabilitation center in the Saint-Louis region.
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The project supported in 2021: The Foundation is participating in the development of a mobile school canteen model by financing the equipment of a canteen, the purchase of a utility vehicle and the implementation of nutritional monitoring for school children.
To enable AGORA to continue its mission in the Saint-Louis region, the Bel Foundation has decided to support the association for another year. In this region, which is particularly affected by malnutrition, children do not always have the opportunity to have a daily meal. The association thus initiated a first project of mobile school canteens in 2020 with, a few pilot schools in the region.
Based on this first experience, AGORA asked the Foundation to strengthen and deploy this project. Thanks to the Foundation’s support and the NGO’s action in the field, AGORA will be able to prepare meals in a large canteen. With the help of a utility vehicle, these meals will then be distributed to three particularly disadvantaged elementary school. Thanks to the involvement of the parents, the school committees will then be able to ensure a daily distribution of these meals to the 700 schoolchildren throughout the school year. AGORA also wants to provide better knowledge of nutrition to students. The NGO has developed various educational tools that are available to children, their parents, and teachers. This project also allows AGORA to identify potential new cases of malnourished children in the schools, and to be able to take care of them very quickly in the nutritional rehabilitation center.
Through this project, AGORA wishes to deploy a model of mobile school canteens, in order to fight against child malnutrition in the region in a sustainable way.
