Mr. Mamadou Diedhiou, Coordinator of the Senegal River Valley Community Resilience and Development Project (PRDC_VFS), officially launched a major tour on Monday, March 9, 2026, to supervise and evaluate the community sub-projects funded in this strategic area. This field mission demonstrates the project's ongoing commitment to close monitoring and accountability to the beneficiary populations.

Spanning three days, the coordinator's visit to the project's intervention areas has a dual operational and strategic objective. Firstly, it aims to concretely assess the physical and financial progress of the sub-projects. This assessment covers both the first generation of projects, launched in 2024, and the second, funded for the 2025-2026 period. In this context, the tour provides a valuable opportunity for direct dialogue with all local development stakeholders in the Matam and Kanel departments. These high-level meetings follow the regular monitoring missions of the departmental committees and allow for the collection of feedback from administrative authorities, mayors, and, most importantly, grassroots communities.

The first departmental visit, to Matam on February 9, 2026, was particularly fruitful, yielding numerous visits and observations. The delegation, comprised of the coordinator, members of the Project Management Unit (PMU), staff from the Matam Regional Development Agency (ARD), the monitoring office, PUMA staff, and the Regional Director of Community Development, was able to appreciate the diversity of projects undertaken. In the municipality of Ogo, the inspection focused on the construction of classrooms in Sinthiou Garba. In Dabia, the mission expanded to other vital sectors: a visit to classroom construction sites in Sinthiou Diam Dioro, verification of the commissioning of an animal vaccination center in Dabia Odédji, and confirmation of the acquisition of an ambulance, significantly strengthening the emergency response chain.

The response to the specific grievances of the populations was also noted.

In the Agnam commune, the construction of a slaughterhouse in Agnam Thiodaye directly addresses a long-standing demand from the local population. The delegation also inspected several infrastructure projects: a hygiene block and a perimeter wall in Gawdal (Bokidiawé) to improve sanitation and safety; a fish farm in Somono to diversify income sources and food supplies; and the extension of a 5 km water network in Nguidjilone, a significant project in terms of access to water. The day concluded in Matam Commune with visits to rehabilitation projects, the observation room at the Soubalo Health Post, and classrooms at Matam School No. 1.

The second day, February 10th, was dedicated to the Kanel department, where the supervision also included visits to community project sites. The education sector featured prominently, with visits to classroom construction sites in Ndendori (Elementary School 1), Thialy (Wouro Sidi), and Odobéré. Other infrastructure projects were also visited, including the development of a football field in Aouré, the construction of a health post in Gassembery, a fish farm in Diella (Orkadiéré), and housing for healthcare workers in Waoundé. Finally, the site for the expansion of the drinking water supply network in the municipality of Odobéré was visited.

At the end of this comprehensive tour, Coordinator Mamadou Diedhiou expressed measured but genuine satisfaction. He welcomed the tangible progress observed and the already perceptible positive impact of the projects on community living conditions. However, in his message to stakeholders, he emphasized the imperatives of the post-implementation phase. He strongly urged local authorities to ensure the optimal and transparent use of allocated funds and, above all, to take full ownership of the infrastructure to ensure its monitoring, maintenance, and sustainable management—a prerequisite for the long-term viability of the investments.

The feedback from local authorities and the people we met was unanimous in praising the PRDC-VFS project. They particularly lauded the project's inclusive and participatory approach, which involves them from the identification of needs to the monitoring of the work, thus strengthening local governance and a sense of ownership.

The PRDC-VFS is a regional resilience project jointly led by Senegal and Mauritania, and financed by the World Bank. In Senegal, its institutional framework is under the supervision of the Ministry of Infrastructure and benefits from the technical expertise of PUMA (Emergency Project for the Modernization of Roads and Territories) as the implementing agency. The financial allocation for the period 2024-2026 totals 24 billion CFA francs, dedicated to the 44 participating municipalities, with the Matam region receiving a direct investment of 9.5 billion CFA francs. This substantial financial effort explicitly aims to strengthen decentralization by equipping local authorities with the skills and resources to implement development projects that address the priorities of their constituents.