Working Together for Climate Action and Community Development in Senegal

_{(By Saïdou BA)}

My journey with Lignaverda began at the end of 2019. It all started with a Facebook post where I was seeking partners to fund a reforestation project I had organized for my village in northern Senegal. Someone saw this post and connected me with the CEO of OZG, Werner Sels. We later met to discuss our project, which was also an opportunity to learn more about their activities in Senegal. In the following month, through our conversations, I became part of his team in Senegal.

This was actually my first major professional experience with a foreign organization. Certainly, we have different cultures, but we share the same goal: the fight against climate change and the improvement of living conditions for local communities affected in Senegal’s “sylvopastoral” zone. A beautiful new chapter began for me.
I was hired as the head of agro-ecological activities. I am responsible for planning and executing land and forest restoration activities to fulfill the organization’s commitments within the Pan-African Great Green Wall project. I work directly with local communities and technical services in charge of the Great Green Wall and forests in Senegal.

For Lignaverda, I carry out, among other tasks:

1. Selecting areas to be restored,

2. Defining technical specifications for land and vegetation restoration,

3. Sowing activities at restoration sites,

4. Monitoring new forests, and more.

Over the past five years, I have had a wonderful collaboration with Lignaverda. This partnership has enabled us to restore nearly 7,000 hectares of degraded land, spread across 15 enclosed sites (82 villages) along the Great Green Wall path. I am very proud of this achievement, and the best is yet to come.

Saïdou BA