BAKEL, Senegal – Three development organisations have formalised a partnership aimed at improving coordination and joint action across the Falémé basin, particularly in the Bakel department of eastern Senegal. The Centre for Action for Development and Research (CADRE), International Budget Partnership Senegal and Grdr Senegal have signed a partnership agreement covering the 2025–2027 period.
BAKEL, Senegal – Three development organisations have formalised a partnership aimed at improving coordination and joint action across the Falémé basin, particularly in the Bakel department of eastern Senegal.
The Centre for Action for Development and Research (CADRE), International Budget Partnership Senegal and Grdr Senegal have signed a partnership agreement covering the 2025–2027 period.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of a stakeholder mobilisation workshop in Dakar, which brought together operational organisations and research institutions working in the Falémé basin. It marks a further step towards building a coordinated response to the environmental, socio-economic and governance challenges affecting communities along the river.
Against a backdrop of multiple development initiatives in the region, the partnership seeks to improve collaboration and ensure greater complementarity between interventions, particularly in natural resource management, community resilience and citizen participation.
Three organisations, one shared ambition
Through the agreement, the three organisations aim to strengthen cooperation and pool their expertise and resources to support development initiatives across the Falémé basin.
The partnership focuses on several key areas: knowledge generation and sharing, the facilitation of consultation platforms, capacity-building for local stakeholders, as well as awareness-raising and advocacy initiatives.
This approach seeks to bring field-level interventions closer to research activities and local dialogue mechanisms, helping to develop responses that better reflect the realities and needs of affected communities.
The Bakel department has been identified as a particular focus of the collaboration, given the environmental and socio-economic challenges facing communities in this part of the basin.
Local consultation at the heart of natural resource governance
Beyond operational coordination, the agreement places inclusive governance at the centre of its objectives.
A key priority is to strengthen community participation and involve local stakeholders more actively in discussions and initiatives concerning the management of natural resources.
In a region facing multiple forms of vulnerability, knowledge generation and stronger consultation mechanisms could help improve understanding of local challenges and support the development of collective responses.
The planned awareness-raising and advocacy activities are also expected to increase public understanding of the importance of protecting natural resources and safeguarding the livelihoods of communities living along the river.
First step towards a broader partnership platform
The agreement, which runs from 2025 to 2027, represents an initial phase in a cooperation process expected to expand. The three organisations envisage this partnership as a foundation for establishing a broader platform bringing together additional stakeholders working across the Falémé basin.
Such a platform could strengthen synergies between civil society organisations, public institutions, research bodies and other development partners.
Its success, however, will depend on the signatories' ability to translate their commitments into coordinated action, maintain effective consultation mechanisms and assess the impact of their interventions on the lives of local communities.
With this agreement, CADRE, International Budget Partnership Senegal and Grdr Senegal are laying the foundations for a structured partnership built around a shared objective: promoting inclusive governance and the sustainable management of natural resources across the Falémé basin.