No description available.

In 1985 the Diama Dam was built near the mouth of the Senegal River to regulate flows during the rainy season and prevent the intrusion of seawater during the dry season. This created ideal conditions upstream of the dam wall for invasion by two highly invasive aquatic weeds, first by water lettuce Pistia stratiotes Linnaeus (Araceae) in 1993, and then by salvinia Salvinia molesta D.S. Mitchell (Salviniaceae) in 1999. This study was focused on the management of P. stratiotes and S. molesta. Following successes that were achieved elsewhere in the world, biological control programmes involving two weevil species were inaugurated against both weeds and research was focused on several aspects. These included pre-release studies to determine the weevils' host-specificity and impact on the plants in the laboratory, their subsequent mass-rearing and releases at selected sites and post-release evaluations on their impact on the weed populations in the field. Both programmes, which reprepresented the first biocontrol efforts against aquatic weeds in Senegal, proved highly successful with severe damage inflicted on the weed populations and complete control achieved within a relatively short time span. A laboratory exclusion experiment with N. affinis on P. stratiotes showed that in treated tubs, the weevil strongly depressed plant performance as measured by the plant growth parameters: mass, rosette diameter, root length, number of leaves and daughter plants whereas control plants were healthy. Field releases started in September 1994 and water coverage by P. stratiotes at Lake Guiers was reduced by 25% in January 1995 and 50% in April 1995. A general decline of 65% in water coverage by P. stratiotes was observed in June 1995 and by August 1995, eight months after releases P. stratiotes mats were destroyed. Further, although no releases were made there, good results were obtained within 18 months at Djoudj Park water bodies, located 150 km NW from Lake Guiers indicating the potential of the weevil to disperse long distances. In 2005, P. stratiotes reappeared and the weevil N. affinis has located and controlled all of these P. stratiotes recurrences after new releases. In 1999, S. molesta covered an estimated area of 18 000 ha on the Senegal River Left Bank and tributaries (Senegal) and 7 840 ha on the Senegal River Right Bank (Mauritania). Military and Civil Development Committee (CCMAD) and community volunteers made an effort to control S. molesta using physical removal, but this costly and labour-intensive approach was unsustainable. Hence, biological control was adopted by Senegal and Mauritania to manage the weed. Host range tests to assess feeding by C. salviniae on S. molesta and non-target plants and carried out on 13 crop species showed that no feeding damage was observed on the latter and weevils only fed on S. molesta. Field releases of some 48 953 weevils at 270 sites were made from early January 2002 to August 2002. Within one year, weevils were established and were being recovered up to 50 km from the release sites. In a case study conducted at one of the release sites, the S. molesta infestation was reduced from 100% to less than 3% 24 months after release. These results are discussed in the context of the weeds’ negative impact on aquatic systems and riverside communities, and in the involvement of these communities in the programmes.

No description available.

There is a drastic need for reforestation in the Sahel region of Africa. International donors and local governments invest large sums of money for the purpose of planting trees. Unfortunately, the majority of reforestation efforts last only as long as the projects. Presently there is a push in the donor community to have more sustainable projects, increasing local participation and creating a situation in which reforestation efforts will continue beyond the scope of any one project. This thesis examines the potential opportunity for the use of eucalyptus in the domestic sawn wood markets of Senegal. It is hoped that with increased economic incentives the local population will become more inclined to plant trees. It is therefore important to identify the market opportunities for the products of reforestation. In this research it has been noted that more emphasis should be placed on determining the barriers to market entry for the goods to be produced from the reforestation and providing assistance to lower those barriers. In Senegal it is generally accepted that planting for fuel wood and housepoles does not provide enough of an economic incentive for increased local involvement in reforestation. This thesis finds that the domestic sawn wood market for eucalyptus in Senegal holds potential but will not provide tangible benefits until there are further improvements in the market infrastructure and communication to the farmer. To increase the participation in this market the people of Senegal need to see for themselves that reforestation can be financially beneficial. Reforestation projects rust have a longer-term vision and provide assistance throughout the productive cycle of the tree. / Master of Science

This thesis explores the social and political relations of an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Senegal. NGOs and international development have been the subject of research from a number of different perspectives, including the politics (and anti-politics) of development, post-development, structural violence and the ‘everyday lives' of NGO participants and workers (Ferguson 1990; Escobar 1995; Farmer 2004; Bornstein 2005; Hilhorst 2003). The present study builds on this scholarship through an ethnographic exploration of the networks of people involved with Tostan, an American NGO based in Senegal whose developmental objective is to engender social change among rural groups in Senegal (particularly those that practice female genital cutting), using a human rights education framework. Through identification and scrutiny of the organisation's macro- and micro-level social relations, I critically examine how ‘development' operates as a cultural and political process. I focus analytically on conceptions of knowledge and ignorance, particularly the ways in which these constructions are acted upon and utilised by different actors within the organisation. I argue that, as an NGO (and thus a ‘moral actor,' Guilhot 2005: 6) within the contemporary donor-driven development industry, a key preoccupation for Tostan as an organisation is the management of perception, or a concern for the ‘spectacle of development' (Allen 2013). Flowing from this argument is the assertion that the activities carried out by actors at every level of the organisation to produce and re-produce particular narratives through strategic knowing and unknowing are as significant (if not more so) as the formal programmatic activities implemented by the organisation ‘on the ground.' As David Mosse argues, development involves not only social work, but also the conceptual work of ‘enrolment, persuasion, agreement and argument that lies behind the consensus and coherence necessary to sustain authoritative narratives and networks for the continued support of policy' (Mosse 2005: 34). As I argue here, NGO actors work to (re)produce, project and protect particular narratives, through the strategic exercise of knowledge and ignorance, in order to access or consolidate positions of power within the politics of aid. Drawing on critical theories of development and human rights (e.g. Sachs 1992; Escobar 1991, 1995; Guilhot 2005, inter alia), within a political context succinctly described by Ellen Foley (2010: 9) as ‘the neoliberalization of just about everything,' I explore how actors across the organisation are linked in a web of cultural and political presuppositions, values, and motivations.

No description available.

Energy poverty refers to a situation where physiological energy needs are not met with the resources available for cooking, lighting, and heating. Billions of people worldwide still rely on biomass fuels such as wood, charcoal, and dung to satisfy their primary energy needs. With high population growth and urbanization trends, energy poverty is especially prominent in sub-Saharan Africa, where electrification rates remain low and biomass use continues to rise. The need for solutions and strategies to increase the access to clean, efficient and sustainable energy resources has never been greater. However, projects by local governments and international development agencies have met limited success in alleviating energy poverty concerns, largely due to a lack of local involvement in the project planning, implementation, and continued operation. One method that has been advocated as a tool to increase public participation through non-traditional techniques is the use of scenarios. Scenarios have proven effective as an aid in creating policy for various sectors, and involve describing future possible events and conditions in efforts, by decision makers, to consider possibilities that cannot be captured by studying past data. While benefits of scenario use are well documented, a paucity of literature exists regarding the procedural details and effectiveness of each stage of the scenario method. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to bring together a diverse group of research and policy professionals fi-om Senegal and examine the effectiveness of the scenario process in capturing their perspectives and priorities on energy poverty in Senegal. Research methods included document research, participant observation, focus group research, semi-structured interviewing and questionnaire surveying. A two day scenario workshop was conducted in Dakar, Senegal and involved 22 research and policy professionals. The workshop revealed that political cohesiveness, social cooperation, and economic development were the three most influential forces influencing energy access. The local participants' perspectives of the issues, barriers, and possible future outcomes of energy poverty in Senegal were documented, and the results and conclusions will help fill a void in the literature on energy poverty perspectives in West Africa and Senegal. The scenario process proved to be an effective, financially efficient means to engage policy and research professionals in a participatory process. The process fostered open communication between all participants and encouraged cooperative learning.

Abstract INSTITUTION:                                       Konst- och bildvetenskap,                                                                                       Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper,    Linnéuniversitetet ADRESS:                                                 351 95 Växjö TELEFON:                                              076-6316902 HANDLEDARE:                                    Margareta Wallin Wictorin TITEL:                                                     Glocal Artworlds- Om globalisering i den                                                                                           Senegalesiska konstvärlden. ENGELSK TITEL:                                  Glocal Artworlds- On globalization in the Senegalese                                                                  artworld. FÖRFATTARE:                                      Lina Josefsson ADRESS:                                                 Pär lagerkvists väg 12 a                                                                  /345 52 Växjö/ TELEFON:                                              TYP AV UPPSATS:                                     C-uppsats VENTILERINGSTERMIN:                             HT 2010 Uppsatsen jämför teorier om hur den globala konstvärlden fungerar utifrån Charlotte Bydlers avhandling ”The Global Artworld Inc.” med hur det är för tre olika senegalesiska konstnärer att arbeta internationellt. Teorier om vad globalisering är och vad det innebär för samtidskonsten tas upp. Uppsatsen går sedan in på den senegalesiska moderna konsthistorien men avstamp i Négritudrörelsen, till dagens konstmarknad med Dakarbiennalen. Sedan presenteras tre olika samtida senegalesiska konstnärer. De har genom intervjuer berättat om sig själva som konstnärer och hur deras arbetsmarknad ser ut. Utifrån svaren som ges analyseras deras konstvärld med den som Charlotte Bydler beskriver i sin avhandling för att se hur globaliseringen har påverkat dem och deras karriärer. Keywords: globalisering, Charlotte Bydler, konstvärldar, Senegal, Dakarbiennalen, biennaler.

Thèse de doctorat : Sciences physique et de l'ingénieur. Sciences du bois : Bordeaux 1 : 2008. Thèse de doctorat : Sciences physique et de l'ingénieur. Sciences du bois : Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar : 2008. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre.

Studies of migration are usually about movement, but what about people who aspire to migrate but whose attempts to do so remain largely unsuccessful? The focus of this thesis is not migration per se, but people’s aspirations of transnational mobility. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2005 and 2007 in Ziguinchor, a crossroads town in the Casamance region of southern Senegal, this thesis examines how men and women imagine and attempt to cross international borders. It is important to consider the push and pull factors behind their aspirations: why does their current situation make them want to leave Senegal, and equally, why are they attracted to the West? I use four examples to address the importance of migration in the life-trajectories of Senegalese people. I discuss how some women have turned to online-dating websites in the hope of forming relationships with European men who could lead to a future outside of Senegal. I then consider a group of women for whom sex-work is not just a way of making money but a migration strategy in its own right. Men also aspire to migrate, and using the examples of côtéman (local beach-boys) and clandestine migrants boarding pirogues to the Canary Islands I discuss male strategies for departure. Côtéman claim that ‘making contacts’ with tourists is a means to migrating, whereas unlike the other strategies discussed in this thesis, clandestine migrants do more than just imagine and embark on illegal sea voyages in the hope of arriving in Europe. Whilst there are many similarities between male and female migratory aspirations, we can see very distinct gender differences: women are seeking relationships of dependence on which to base their futures, whereas men only want temporary assistance. These new migration strategies exist within a West African country that has a long and complex history of migrations. Rather than concentrating on the importance of existing migratory networks, however, this thesis discusses very individualised ways of thinking about migration. Some of the choices made by hopeful migrants may appear to be both psychologically and financially irrational, but I show the reasons behind their decisions to invest time and effort into migration strategies that remain largely unsuccessful.