In Tambacounda, a town of 80,000 souls, there does not seem to be many opportunities and prospects, especially for young people, who represent the large majority of the Senegalese population and the main reference for their families.
To deal with it, VIS has created the project "Action to combat irregular migration through support of local development in the Tambacounda Region": the intention is simply to create the conditions for real opportunities and perspectives to materialize so young people can choose to stay and to live in their country of origin without having to be compelled to embark on a dangerous journey, of which they do not often know the real risks awaiting them.
To create such a project, many local actors have been involved who are able to provide adequate training courses relevant to the local conditions, the logic being that formation and skills development may be the route to more and greater opportunities for the individual and the community.
"High temperatures and broken roads aside, it was really important for me, a young VIS collaborator on my first experience, to be able to see, talk and learn about places and people, see the problems firsthand, the difficulties and the needs," said the young cooperator. "An episode, in particular, among the numerous testimonies I have collected, struck me: the choice of a boy from Koar, a small village literally lost in a void, who emigrated irregularly some time ago and arrived in Italy. On learning about the project of agricultural entrepreneurship promoted by the VIS in his village, which brought together thirty young people, he chose to return to join the initiative, convinced that it is a credible alternative to illegal immigration!"
