The growth of a country depends on the improvement of its human resources. The TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) system intends primarily to advance personal support and resources. Throughout education, people can build their knowledge, understanding, and skills to find a job. The TVET in Agriculture (ATVET) curriculum plays an essential role in designing interventions to deliver quality education, helping people increase productivity in the various agriculture sectors of economic activities, value chains, and associated occupations. The purpose of this research is to investigate what is necessisary to improve the agriculture technical and vocational education programs in Senegal by focusing on pedagogy and teaching strategies. Participants represented different ranges of teaching experience from five to more than ten years. The lead researcher interviewed two school directors and ten ATVET teachers. The interviews were semi-structured and were last from 30 minutes to one hour in Diourbel and Thies, Senegal. The researchers developed an interview protocol regarding the ATVET programs, implementation issues, and job market trends. The results showed that participants had various years of professional experience in the ATVET system and academic levels. All participants are well experienced and knowledgeable about working in strenuous physical and instructional conditions. The lack of infrastructure, equipment, and class facilities appears in the findings as significant problems. The deterioration of the resources such as human, material, financial and organizational influences the expected teaching outcomes because of insufficient and inadequate teaching and learning methods. Thereby, all authorities must consider the requirements and expectations of the the competency-based (CBA) program within the sustainability of the infrastructure, the learning environment, and the efficiency of maintenance to improve the technical context to guarantee practical and efficient administration of technological, environmental, and human resources. / Doctor of Philosophy / The growth of a country depends on the improvement of its human resources. The Vocational Training system (TVET) aims to strengthen human resources. Through education, people can build their expertise, comprehension, and abilities to find a job. The TVET in Agriculture performs a fundamental function in designing interventions to deliver concerning training, making people boost productivity in agriculture sectors of economic activities, value chains, and associated occupations. The purpose of this research is to investigate what is needed to improve agriculture vocational and technical education programs in Senegal by focusing on pedagogy and teaching strategies to address the new and growing competency demands of the different value-chains within the agriculture system. Participants in this study were the teachers and administrators in the current ATVET programs. The lead researcher interviewed two school directors and ten ATVET teachers in Diourbel and Thies, Senegal. The researchers developed an interview protocol regarding the ATVET programs, implementation issues, and job market trends. The results showed that participants are well experienced and knowledgeable about working in strenuous physical and instructional conditions. The availability and quality of material resources such as teaching materials and class sizes pose problems in teacher satisfaction in the classroom to boost learning outcomes. Thus, the didactic equipment also remains insufficient and poorly diversified, which testifies the limited pedagogical approaches used in these structures. The deterioration of the ATVET resources such as human, material, financial and organizational influences the expected teaching outcomes because of insufficient and inadequate teaching and learning methods. Thereby, all authorities must consider the requirements and expectations of sustainability of the infrastructure, the learning environment, and the efficiency of maintenance to improve the technical context.

In Senegal, in recent years the rural sector has undergone major reforms which are partly due to macroeconomic policy reforms adopted by the Senegalese government. Therefore, all the actors of economic and social development have a common concern and share in promoting rural agriculture (Bernard et al., 2008). Changes observed in the agricultural and rural sector reflect the will of the actors to have a productive, competitive, and sustainable agriculture system in order to ensure food security (International Monetary Fund, 2011). The purpose of the study is to develop a set of recommendations to improve the educational program planning and teaching skills of educators in the extension system by focusing on extension educators' approaches to teaching farmers and cart owners animal welfare practices for proper care of working animals. The extension agents and teachers involved in the animal husbandry and animal extension system in Thies and Bambey served as participants in this study. This descriptive qualitative study connected qualitative data derived from participant interviews, qualitative document analysis, observations of an educational program planning professional development program for state agents and university faculty members in Diourbel and Thies regions, as well as a final focus group to allow participants clarification of preliminary themes found in the data. The findings revealed 11 themes: characteristics of the participants, job expectation and responsibilities, institutional and organizational factors, capacity building and professional development plans, diagnostics of the extension system, regulations and legislations, limited sources of information, limited knowledge and skills technologies, recommendations for utilizing student-centered teaching practices, standard welfare for animal husbandry, recommendation for acceptance and improvement standard animal welfare related to the four research questions which addressed the topics of challenging current teaching methods used in the extension system for other owners of animal species in the animal extension programs, the use of student-centered teaching practices in extension education and university instruction, and the level assistance given to farmers in order to ensure accepted standards of animal welfare working animal and other animal species in the animal husbandry system. / Master of Science in Life Sciences / In Senegal, in recent years the rural sector has undergone major reforms which are partly due to macroeconomic policy reforms adopted by the Senegalese government. Therefore, all the actors of economic and social development have a common concern and share in promoting rural agriculture (Bernard et al., 2008). Changes observed in the agricultural and rural sector reflect the will of the actors to have a productive, competitive, and sustainable agriculture system in order to ensure food security (International Monetary Fund, 2011). The purpose of the study is to develop a set of recommendations to improve the educational program planning and teaching skills of educators in the extension system by focusing on extension educators' approaches to teaching farmers and cart owners animal welfare practices for proper care of working animals. The extension agents and teachers involved in the animal husbandry and animal extension system in Thies and Bambey served as participants in this study. The methodology used for this descriptive qualitative study were interviews, qualitative document analysis, observations of an educational and professional development program planning for state agents and university faculty members in Diourbel and Thies regions, as well as a final focus group to allow participants clarification of preliminary themes found in the data. The data collected from participants were connected to the different used qualitative methods to gather data. The 11 themes found in this study were the characteristics of the participants, job expectation and responsibilities, institutional and organizational factors, capacity building and professional development plans, diagnostics of the extension system, regulations and legislations, limited sources of information, limited knowledge and skills technologies, recommendations for utilizing student-centered teaching practices, standard welfare for animal husbandry, recommendation for acceptance and improvement standard animal welfare related to the four research questions which addressed the topics of challenging current teaching methods used in the extension system for other owners of animal species in the animal extension programs, the use of student-centered teaching practices in extension education and university instruction, and the level assistance given to farmers in order to ensure accepted standards of animal welfare working animal and other animal species in the animal husbandry system.

Les femmes, élément central de la vie économique et sociale, jouent un rôle important dans la société sénégalaise. Dans cette thèse nous avons voulu mettre en valeur le dynamisme et l'héroïsme quotidien des femmes sénégalaises, de la région de Diourbel en particulier. Ce dynamisme est étudié à travers leurs activités quotidiennes, la recherche d’autonomie économique, et leurs associations. Diourbel était le centre du bassin arachidier dont les contours se sont modifiés avec le développement de l’arachide et les mutations du milieu. Ces dernières ne manquent pas de conséquences sur la vie des populations, des femmes en particulier qui doivent trouver des moyens pour s'adapter et faire face au départ des hommes et à l'accroissement des charges familiales. En partant des difficultés multidimensionnelles du vieux bassin arachidier, étudiées à travers la mauvaise articulation des politiques agricoles coloniales et nationales, qui ont participé à la crise agricole qui a été aggravée par la combinaison de facteurs anthropiques et physiques, nous avons rappelé le rôle actif des femmes dans la sphère familiale, d’abord et rendu visibles les activités collectives ou individuelles qu’elles ont déployées. Ensuite, les associations féminines se caractérisent par leur diversité dans leurs formes, leurs objectifs, leurs moyens et leur tissu relationnel. Devant les mutations observées, elles sont devenues incontournables et sont perçues comme des réponses féminines. Devant tous ces changements, les femmes du Baol ont leur mot à dire et leur force à apporter pour que l'édifice familial et social reste debout. Face aux efforts déployés par les femmes, des perspectives s'ouvrent. / Women play an important role in Senegalese society occupying a central position in the economic and social life of the nation. In this thesis we will highlight the dynamism and the heroic levels of energy that Senegalese women invest in their daily tasks. Our observations will focus on the region of Diourbel. Their dynamism will be assessed throughout their daily activities, including their efforts to reach an economic self-sufficiency and their work within organizations. Diourbel used to be the center of the groundnut (peanut) basin. The borders of this region changed with shifts in the techniques of peanut farming and modifications in the environment. The latter has had effects on the living conditions of the inhabitants, particularly on women who had to find ways to adapt to such challenges as men migrating and increases in the cost of running a household. We highlight the active role women play within the family, demonstrating their collective and individual activities. These details are presented within the context of such multidimensional issues facing the old groundnut basin, as the incoherence of the colonial and national agricultural policies which have been aggravated by the combination of anthropogenic and physical factors. In addition the women´s associations are characterized by their variety, objectives, methods and internal relationships. The analysis will show them to be an inevitable feminine response to the observed social, economic and environmental changes. Women of Baol play a substantial role and exert significant influence on the process of maintaining both the social and familiar structures of their communities. As women carry out these efforts, our analysis will reveal how these efforts generate new perspectives.