The rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia, honoured for the work in university cooperation in Senegal

The project is jointly led by the University of Barcelona, the University of Girona, and the Món-3 Foundation and features the participation of the UB Solidarity Foundation. It is carried out in collaboration with three universities in Senegal, the Regional Development Agency (ARD) of Saint-Louis, and the City Council of Richard Toll. In addition, it receives support from the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation (ACCD) and benefits from the expertise of the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Laboratory Research Group (LEQUIA) at the University of Girona, the UdG’s Social Commitment and Professional Guidance and Career Unit, as well as the UB Solidarity Foundation.

A long-standing cooperation with Senegal

The initiative is the result of a long-standing collaboration between the UB and Gaston Berger University of Saint-Louis, dating back to 2008, which has included work in areas as diverse as agricultural development, the role of women, and water resource management. The visit to Senegal made it possible to gain first-hand insight into the development of the Good Governance and Citizen Participation for a Sustainable City in Richard Toll project, which began in 2023, and to identify new opportunities for future collaboration.

The objectives of the project are to promote good governance and citizen participation in the city of Richard Toll, from a gender and climate change perspective, to achieve sustainable water resource management and enhance urban sustainability. The initiative includes the construction of school latrines and the establishment of a wastewater analysis laboratory at Gaston Berger University. The aim is to contribute to water quality monitoring and to the diagnosis of urban and industrial sanitation in Richard Toll, with a view to implementing local public policies for the sustainable management of water resources and urban solid waste.

The main results of the project were presented at a seminar attended by several senior officials from the Government of Catalonia, including the Secretary of the Department of the European Union and Foreign Action, Lorena Elvira Ayuso, and the Director of the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation, Gerard Graells del Bas. During their stay in Senegal, the UB delegation visited several facilities related to the project at Gaston Berger University.

During the visit to Senegal, the UB delegation also visited Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, with which a cooperation agreement will be signed in the near future. The UB representatives held a meeting with the rector of this university, Alioune Badara Kandji, and gained first-hand knowledge of the facilities of the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire (IFAN), with which the UB Solidarity Foundation is developing a project on wastewater treatment.

The UB and UdG delegations were composed of the rector, Joan Guàrdia; the UB vice-rector for Internationalization Policy, Raúl Ramos; and the UdG vice-rectors Josep Vila and Ignasi Rodríguez-Roda. The delegations also included several members of the academic staff who have taken part in the project, as well as representatives from the UB Solidarity Foundation and the Món-3 Foundation.