HOME





Diabougou (Thiès)
Diabougou is a village in the Thiès Region of western Senegal. The village was the site of the "Diagoubou Declaration". This was the first multilateral announcement to renounce the practice of female genital cutting in Senegal. Description FGC The village of Diabougou came to international notice in 1998 when it was the site of a public declaration by a group of villages to end the local tradition of what is known as Female Genital Cutting (FGC). The first declaration had been organised by the Senegalese imam Demba Diawara and the American charity worker Molly Melching. Diawara chose Diabougou to make the "Diabougou Declaration". Diawara had invested a lot of his time in persuading other communities. On 14 February 1998 fifty representatives from twelve nearby villages met to commit to this change. The thirteen villages involved contained an estimated 8,000 people and this was the first time a number of villages had made a commitment to end FGC. Diawara knew that two villa ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Flag Of Senegal
The national flag of Senegal () is a tricolour consisting of three vertical green, yellow and red bands charged with a five-pointed green star at the centre. Adopted in 1960 to replace the flag of the Mali Federation, it has been the flag of the Republic of Senegal since the country gained independence that year. The present and previous flags were inspired by the French tricolour, which flew over Senegal until 1960. History Under French colonial rule over Senegal, the authorities forbade the colony from using its own distinctive colonial flag because they were worried that this could increase nationalistic sentiment and lead to calls for independence. With the rise of the decolonization movement in Africa, the French were obliged to grant limited autonomy to Senegal as a self-governing republic within the French Community. Senegal was combined with French Sudan on April 4, 1959, to form the Mali Federation. That day, a new flag was adopted: a vertical green, yell ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Senegal
Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea to Guinea–Senegal border, the southeast and Guinea-Bissau to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, the southwest. Senegal nearly surrounds The Gambia, a country occupying a narrow sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River, which separates Senegal's southern region of Casamance from the rest of the country. It also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde. Senegal's capital is Dakar. Senegal is the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World, or Afro-Eurasia. It owes its name to the Senegal River, which borders it to the east and north. The climate is typically Sahelian, though there is a wet season, rainy season. Senegal covers a land area of almost and has a population of around 18 million. The state is a Presidential system ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Regions Of Senegal
Senegal is subdivided into 14 regions (French: ''régions'', singular''région''), each of which is administered by a ''Conseil Régional'' (pl.: ''Conseils Régionaux'') elected by population weight at the arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, and certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissem ... level. Senegal is further subdivided into 46 departments, 103 arrondissements (neither of which have administrative function) and by ''collectivités locales'' (the 14 ''regions'', 110 ''communes'', and 320 ''communautés rurales'') which elect administrative officers.List of current local elected officials
from Union des ''Associations d’ Elus Locaux (UAEL) d ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Thiès Region
Thiès (; ; Noon: ''Chess'') is the third largest city in Senegal with a population of 391,253 in 2023. It lies east of Dakar on the N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar, Bamako and St-Louis. It is the capital of Thiès Region and is a major industrial city. History Before colonization, the Thiès Plateau was a wooded frontier between the kingdoms of Cayor and Baol inhabited by the Serer-Noon, an ethnic sub-group of the Serer people. The Serer-Noon still inhabit the Thiès-Nones neighborhood of the south-west city today. They speak the Noon language, one of the Cangin languages. The village of Dianxene, belonging to the kingdom of Cayor, was founded on the strategically important plateau in the 17th century. In 1860, it had only 75 inhabitants. The French founded a military post there in 1864, becoming an important force in the city's development ever since. The Spiritans founded a mission there in the late 19th century to help protect the local populati ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Female Genital Cutting
Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. FGM prevalence varies worldwide, but is majorly present in some countries of Africa, Asia and Middle East, and within their diasporas. , UNICEF estimates that worldwide 230 million girls and women (144 million in Africa, 80 million in Asia, 6 million in Middle East, and 1-2 million in other parts of the world) had been subjected to one or more types of FGM. Typically carried out by a traditional cutter using a blade, FGM is conducted from days after birth to puberty and beyond. In half of the countries for which national statistics are available, most girls are cut before the age of five. Procedures differ according to the country or ethnic group. They include removal of the clitoral hood (type 1-a) and clitoral glans (1-b); removal of the inner labia (2-a); ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Demba Diawara
Demba Diawara (born c. 1931) is an imam and village leader of Keur Simbara in Senegal. He is known for his leadership in encouraging village communities to abandon the tradition of female genital cutting. He knew of the first declarations at the Senegalese village of Malicounda Bambara to abandon FGC in 1997 and he led his village and many more to the first multilateral announcement at Diabougou in 1998. Life Diawara was born in about 1931. He is an imam and a chief of the small, but now well known, village of Keur Simbara in western Senegal.Demba and the village of Keur Simbara
Rina Jimenez-David, 4 December 2011, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Retrieved 23 December 2015


Unilateral declaration and problem

Diawara had been initially concerned in 1997 when he heard that ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Molly Melching
Molly Melching is the founder and Creative Director of the Tostan Community Empowerment Program (CEP). Tostan (meaning "breakthrough" in the Wolof language) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) headquartered in Dakar, Senegal whose mission is to empower African communities to bring about sustainable development and positive social transformation based on respect for human rights. Her website, Tostan.org, states "Tostan implements a holistic, three-year empowering education program in African national languages that has engaged over 3,500 rural communities in eight African countries on themes of democracy, human rights, health, literacy, and project management skills". These themes include the abandonment of female genital cutting, the abolishment of child/forced marriage, and female empowerment in leadership positions such as leadership positions in countries across West and East Africa. Melching's expertise is in developing educational materials for use at the community le ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Malicounda Bambara
Malicounda Bambara is a village in the rural community of Malicounda within M'bour Department of the Thiès Region in western Senegal, located northeast of Saly on the Petite Côte, Petite-Côte and approximately 85 km from the Senegalese capital of Dakar. It is one of three villages all named Malicounda, but with affixes Bambara, Sérère and Wolof, each denoting the prevalent ethnicity. The three are closely connected through relations. Malicounda Bambara is especially notable for being the first village in Senegal to publicly abandon the traditional practice of female genital cutting. Etymology The origin of the name Malicounda is subject of dispute. Whilst it is commonly thought to reference the heritage of the immigrants who founded the village, dignitaries of Malicounda Sérère hold that it comes from the Serer language, Serer words ''mal'' meaning 'spontaneous wild herbs' and ''koundal'' 'a place that is inhabited by Jinn, jinns', and due to a transcription error '' ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Nguerigne Bambara
N'Guerigne Bambara or Nguerigne Bambara or Nguering is a small village in the Thiès Region in Senegal.The village is on the eastern side of the country 70 km from the capital DakarGoogle maps Retrieved 2 September 2015 The village is known internationally because of its early decision to renounce Female Genital Cutting. Description Nguerigne Bambara is small settlement with a Grand Mosque near the coastal town of Ngaparou. There is a hotel.Lodge Parazar
Retrieved 2 September 2015 In 1997 the village of was the first to unilaterally decide to stop female genital cutting. The decision had arisen spontaneously following a development course by the charity
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Keur Simbara
Keur Simbara is a small village in the Thiès Region in Senegal.The village is on the eastern side of the country 70 km from the capital DakarUNICEF/Tostan Tostan The village is known internationally because of the efforts of its village chief Demba Diawara. He persuaded a group of villages to co-operate to renounce Female Genital Cutting. Diawara believed that in order for Keur Simbara to renounce FGM then he would need to persuade the villages wider social network. This was achieved. Keur Simbara, a small village, has received Ministers from other countries. Description Keur Simbara is 70 km from Dakar the capital of Senegal. The small Bambara village of Keur Simbara came to international community because of the change that the community has achieved. The village leader Demba Diawara led the village to renounce Female Genital Cutting. The village was aware that another village had publicly committed to abandon female circumcision but they feared that other villagers would ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Wolof Language
Wolof ( ; , ) is a Niger–Congo language spoken by the Wolof people in much of the West African subregion of Senegambia that is split between the countries of Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, it belongs to the Senegambian branch of the Niger–Congo language family. Unlike most other languages of its family, Wolof is not a tonal language. Wolof is the most widely spoken language in Senegal, spoken natively by the Wolof people (40% of the population) but also by most other Senegalese as a second language. Wolof dialects vary geographically and between rural and urban areas. The principal dialect of Dakar, for instance, is an urban mixture of Wolof, French, and Arabic. ''Wolof'' is the standard spelling and may also refer to the Wolof ethnicity or culture. Variants include the older French , , or , which now typically refers either to the Jolof Empire or to jollof rice, a common West African rice dish. Now-archaic forms incl ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]