Senegal: Eco-Friendly Charcoal Helps Women Find Jobs and Protects Senegalese Forests

What country?

Senegal

 

Who for?

Rural women and their families

 

What action?

In Senegalese villages, firewood is the main source of energy. Women, whose task it is to collect the wood, must sometimes walk long distances to find it, especially as resources begin to dwindle due to population pressure. Moreover, the resulting deforestation causes environmental harm by exacerbating global warming and disrupting the ecosystem. To address the issue, Charbon Bio foR’ural Women has set up a structure for women in rural areas to produce and sell eco-friendly charcoal made from agricultural residue, straw from the bush and clay. As well as being inexpensive, this material does not produce greenhouse gas emissions.

Charbon Bio foR’ural Women is one of the winners of the 2021 International Prize awarded by Fondation la France s’engage (FFE), which supports the development of innovative initiatives championed by players from the social economy. TotalEnergies Foundation was the first private stakeholder to get behind the FFE program when it was launched by the French government in 2014.

 

What impact?

Beyond its positive environmental impact, the project reduces the burden of transporting wood and helps create jobs and income for Senegalese women, factors that are essential to their empowerment.