Khady Seck, Senegal

 Ms. Khady Seck lives in the village of Merina Seck about nine kilometres from the headquarters of Diokoul Epicentre of The Hunger Project-Senegal. She is 42 years old and chairs a microfinance programme (MFP) group started in 2007 by women in her village. Khady’s hope for initiating the MFP group was to combine the strengths of local women, create solidarity, encourage cohesion and undertake income generating activities (IGAs) to increase the income and welfare of members.

With the leadership and commitment of Khady, the group has cultivated a vegetable crop with support from a two-year loan of 300,000 FCFA (about £400). Combining their resources allowed them to overcome their shortage of vegetable production due to an insufficient water supply in the community. Water and crops now benefit the whole of the community equally. Khady encourages all the village women to become active in order to support their families but also to establish the fund for members of social spending.

In addition to participating in the MFP and IGA workshops, Khady attends other training at the epicentre including breast feeding and maternal nutrition, reproductive health, HIV/AIDS awareness and more. Empowered by the epicentre trainings, Khady has taken on the position of counsellor to the village women and coordinated the shared maintenance of the local environment, reducing rates of diseases like malaria.

Khady’s main objectives for the future include:

• Mobilising women to acquire a new land for crop cultivation.
• Purchase a modernised oil press for food processing.
• Raise the gardening yields so that village households can have fresh vegetables daily.

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