Senegal
Our founding mission, since 1993. In the remote Kédougou region, we help children start the school year with what they need to learn: notebooks, pens and a slate.
- Region
- Kédougou, Saraya, Malinda
- Partner
- CAURIS
- 2026 mission
- 11 volunteers
- Length
- 2 to 3 months
Where it all began.
ESC Sans Frontières was born in Senegal, in the Kédougou region, in 1993. As refugees arrived after the Senegal–Mauritania conflict, the founders chose to act on one simple idea: make education easier to reach for the most vulnerable children.
In the early years, school supplies were shipped from France in containers. The mission then reinvented itself locally with the association CAURIS, our partner since 2002: schools were chosen in the most isolated areas, and the first school cooperative opened in 2003.
In 2026, eleven volunteers spent two to three months there, driven by the same belief: every child deserves a chance to learn.
One notebook at a time.
Notebooks, pens, erasers, slates and geometry sets sold at a token price, right inside our partner schools.
A complement, not competition
The State provides supplies to every rural community, but in some villages they only arrive in January. Our shops equip pupils as soon as school starts in October.
A model that runs all year
The shops are run by Senegalese managers, paid in proportion to their sales. The rest of the takings funds the next year's production.
Where the shops are
Tap a village to see it on the map
From the bush to Dakar, and back to the schools.
In the bush
About ten days visiting the 14 schools: reviewing each shop with its manager, counting stock, collecting the year's takings and listing what is needed for the new school year.
In Dakar
Six weeks of fundraising in pairs, from Les Almadies to Rufisque, meeting local companies and multinationals. In 2026: €33,000 raised for school supplies.
Production
Four or five volunteers follow the printing of the notebooks with SIPEXS, then their journey to the schools, in time for October.
Why a notebook matters so much.
Without a notebook or a pen, a pupil can neither take notes in class nor revise at home, and soon drops out. In these remote regions, supplies cost more because of transport, and the State's allocation sometimes only arrives in January. Many families cannot keep up.
Conditions are already harsh: lessons outdoors in over 40 °C, classes of more than fifty pupils, no canteen. When supplies run out on top of that, classrooms empty, and girls are the first to drop out.
A teacher told us that about half of the pupils drop out in their first year of secondary school, mainly for lack of school supplies.
The 2026 mission.
Your logo on our hoodies.
A donation directly funds the production of school supplies. A company can also become a partner: its logo is shown on our hoodies and at our events in Rouen.
