In a country known for peace and progress, many children still face life on the streets, forced labor, or silent trauma. Discover the groups making space for healing, learning, and dignity.
Senegal has a proud cultural heritage and growing economy, yet many children still experience neglect, violence, or exclusion. From the talibé children in urban centers to girls facing early marriage in rural areas, too many are left behind. These are the three most urgent challenges:
Tens of thousands of boys live in Islamic boarding schools, where many are forced to beg on the streets. Some suffer abuse, neglect, and unsafe living conditions with little oversight or protection.
Girls in regions like Kolda and Matam face early marriage, school dropout, and limited access to reproductive health. Their voices are often ignored in both family and policy decisions.
Abuse often goes unreported due to stigma, fear, or distrust of the justice system. Many children suffer in silence, especially in poor or conservative communities where protection services are lacking.
Despite these challenges, Uganda’s children remain full of hope — dreaming of education, health, and opportunities for a better tomorrow.
At iam4allkids.org, we shine a light on injustice that hides in plain sight. In Senegal, we support the organizations working quietly but powerfully to defend children’s rights, restore their safety, and protect their futures.
We:
Share stories of children surviving abuse, forced labor, and silence
Highlight shelters, school reentry programs, and healing circles
Support advocacy campaigns for stronger protection and gender equity
In Senegal, we lift up the voices that are too often ignored.
Senegal is stable, but too many children are still at risk.
Over 50,000 talibé boys are forced into begging and live without care
One in three girls is married before the age of 18
Child sexual abuse is underreported, and few survivors receive justice or support
We believe every child in Senegal deserves freedom from fear and a future built on care and choice.
Even in silence, change is happening:
On Dakar’s streets, boys once forced to beg are back in classrooms, learning with pride
In rural villages, teen girls are teaching younger ones how to stay in school and say no
In trusted shelters, children are drawing the stories they once couldn’t tell
And because of your support, these voices are finally being heard
In Senegal, healing is not a whisper — it is a rising chorus.
Maison de la Gare works with street-connected talibé children in Saint-Louis, offering shelter, health care, and access to education. Their staff also support family reunification and run advocacy campaigns to end forced begging.
At their center, boys find showers, food, soccer, and smiles — many for the first time in years.
They transform survival into self-worth.
La Lumière operates in the Kolda and Sédhiou regions, working with families, teachers, and religious leaders to keep girls in school. They run life-skills workshops, school retention programs, and youth clubs for girls at risk of early marriage or abuse.
They also provide counseling and community dialogue sessions to shift harmful norms.
La Lumière helps girls turn pressure into power.
In 2023, Maison de la Gare expanded its youth shelter to accommodate 60 more talibé children. The new space included classrooms, bunk beds, a health clinic, and play areas — all designed in partnership with the boys themselves.
Children who once begged all day now write stories, share meals, and sleep in safety.
The shelter became a place where survival turned into stability.
In 2024, La Lumière launched a traveling caravan across villages in the Kolda region. With music, storytelling, and peer mentors, the team led discussions on early marriage, school access, and self-advocacy.
Girls stood up to speak about their dreams. Elders listened. Mothers cried and signed pledge cards.
The caravan turned silence into community action.
Meet the organizations restoring safety, education, and equality for Senegal’s most vulnerable children:
Protecting talibé children through shelter, legal support, and school reentry.
Defending girls’ rights through education advocacy and family-based care.
Promoting human rights education and dialogue in rural communities.
Sheltering street children in Dakar and supporting their healing and reintegration.
Offering temporary protection and services for abandoned or at-risk children.
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