Attachments
SUMMARY
Practical Action is working with vulnerable communities to find ways to adapt and prepare for flood events. Our aim is to make resilience a way of life in Senegal. We share our knowledge and experience of what works with communities, practitioners, and decision makers around the globe.
Title: Promoting Community Flood Resilience in North Thiès District (PRECIT)
Programme period: 2021–2024
Locations: Thialy, Nguinth, Keur Mame El Hadji, and Medina Fall
Implementing partner: Practical Action, Innovations Environment Development (IED) Africa, and the Senegalese Red Cross (CRS), North Thiès district
Participants: 6,200 people in eight communities
Donor: Z Zurich Foundation.
BACKGROUND
Floods affect more people globally and cause greater economic, social, and humanitarian losses than any other natural hazard. Climate change, combined with urbanization and economic development, will only make flooding worse.
Practical Action has been a member of the award-winning Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance since 2013. Building on our experience of collaborating with the Alliance, we have been working with 77 communities across six countries as part of the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance since 2020.
CONTEXT
Flooding is a recurrent and escalating issue in Senegal, significantly affecting urban and rural communities, particularly during the rainy season from June to October. The increasing frequency and severity of these floods are attributed to a combination of climatic, environmental, and infrastructural factors.
According to this report produced by the national authorities, the floods of 2020 affected all regions of Senegal, with 12,475 households and 77,260 people affected, 3,285 persons displaced, and seven lives lost. Furthermore, studies carried out on the 2020 floods in Senegal showed that 53 per cent of households heavily impacted by the floods were headed by women.