Luxembourg's development cooperation in Senegal
The first development cooperation relations between Luxembourg and Senegal were established in 1987. In 1993, Senegal achieved the status of a partner country of Luxembourg's development cooperation. A general cooperation agreement between Luxembourg and Senegal was signed in 1998 and led to the opening of the Luxembourg cooperation mission in Dakar in 2001. Since 2007, the mission has received the status of an embassy accredited both to Senegal and Mali. The signing of the first Indicative Cooperation Programme (ICP I 2002-2006) took place in April 2002 and that of ICP II (2007-2011) in January 2007.
Signed in Dakar on 26 October 2011, the third ICP (ICP III 2012-2016) was extended to the end of 2017 to synchronise the activities of Luxembourg's cooperation programme with the timescales of the European Union's joint programming initiative and the Plan Senegal Emergent. The latter is an expression of President Macky Sall's ambition to transform Senegal into an emerging country by 2035 by following a sustainable development model.
ICP III's indicative budget envelope was 67.9 million euros. The programme's activities were performed in part by United Nations System agencies.
ICP III had the following characteristics:
- geographical concentration: the regions of Matam, Saint-Louis, Louga and Thiès, in the north; the regions of Fatick, Diourbel, Katrine and Kaolack, in the centre;
- intervention sectors: technical education, professional training and integration; basic health, including reproductive health; decentralisation, local governance and civic education and good governance; water and sanitation;
- cross-cutting themes: gender; good governance; environment and climate change.
On 23 January 2018, on the sidelines of the official visit of H.R.H. Grand Duke of Luxembourg to Senegal, the fourth Indicative Cooperation Program (ICP IV 2018-2022) was signed. With an indicative budget of 65 million euros, the ICP IV focuses on two priority areas, namely health and social protection as well as vocational and technical training and employability of young people.