Sustainable Campus in Sahel

PROBLEM 

- Education infrastructure: low graduation rates, disruption and strikes are common and students' living conditions are harsh. They can barely afford housing, food, water, electricity and healthcare due to rampant urbanization and low urban services.

- Labour market: 72 % of companies face issues with recruitment claiming students are not operational and there is little job creation (wider context of « Jobless growth »)

- Deforestation in the Sahel region

SOLUTION - Create competencies for « sustainability » jobs (SDG8)

- offer experiential learning to create entrepreneurs and collaborative workers (SDG8/17)

- provide housing on a sustainable campus (SDG11)

- offer exchange options to retain internationally mobile students and faculty (SDG4)

- empower women by ensuring equal opportunity in studies and inclusion and safety on campus (SDG5)

This learning community along the Senegal river could change the way we live, build, create economic value and make cities grow.

The Senegal river basin hosts 3,5 million people with great ethnic diversity and massive emigration towards cities and Europe. Typha is the plague of rivers in West Africa, it is. This harmful and invasive reed is multiplying at an incredible rate in Senegal and Mauritania (especially after the construction of mass dams in the late 1980s) causing problems of water supplies, the proliferation of diseases and threatening biodiversity in the Senegal River delta. 

The good news if that typha has economic benefits in 2 areas : in construction, and as a biofuel. Firstly, on the African continent, buildings are often poorly adapted to the hot climate, thermally uncomfortable and energy consuming. But there is still time to do better: 80% of the buildings that will be inhabited in 2050 are not yet built. Secondly, the lack of access to energy directly affects 70% of the population (85% in rural areas). In addition, about 730 million people use solid fuels for cooking (firewood and charcoal), harmful fumes and the exploitation of those fuels puts great pressure on the forest resource. The use of charcoal as the main source of energy is one of the major causes of deforestation in Africa.

The value proposition relies on 2 purposes : centering higher education on the SDGs and creating a sustainable community. We will transform higher education in Senegal with :

- fields of studies promoting the SDGs, while leveraging the transformational power of the digital economy, and the continent’s cultural wealth.

- students « Learning by doing », working on real-life cases and issues through projects tutored by companies, but also assuming responsibilities related to campus life.

- exchange possibilities offering will allow students to stay in Senegal while still being able to travel for a semester or a year to a renowned partner.

We will also create a transformative learning experience on an innovative campus, inspired by the Schumacher College :

- boosting female empowerment and inclusion by design by providing security, child daycare, and healthcare

- campus life will be animated by a dedicated staff member, and by students themselves engaging in cultural, sports and civic activities

- a model campus for an attractive local offer tackling issues that have global resonance andthe power to redefine education practices is SSA.

The solution affects different demographics in various ways. 

- Students that could afford studying in industrialized nations and went by default are going to be able to pursue their studies in Senegal while also travelling on exchange programs to neighbour countries of far-away universities, and study about sustainable development, and the issues that are affecting the Sahel region. They will enjoy a comfortable life with all the amenities close to home, while not having to live at home with their parents. 

- Students that could not afford studying in industrialized nations will experience decent living and studying conditions (vs the main university of Senegal that runs at 300% capacity).

- people whose lives will be affected by the jobs created by our graduates: they will see the greater impact of this project since our graduates will create products and services, harness technology and be involved in policy-making that will improve the lives of millions.

The problems addressed revolve around vulnerability to climate change in the Sahel region. The way we chose to address this problem is by fostering job creation around sustainable development. The population we are serving is deeply affected by the lack of economic opportunities and is massively leaving Sahel, to cities and Europe at the peril of their lives, and also accelerating climate change because of unsustainable urbanization. 

We want to create economic opportunities and sustainable human communities and practices.

We are focusing on the pedagogy aspect of the project for now. As a proof-of-concept, we are developing executive education programs for 20 students max. to be offered in blended format (online and physical) without a campus with low tangible assets (no housing) and with classes hosted by partners (research institutes). This phase will last 2-3 years while we build the brand and school's reputation, raise funds for the construction and build.

The innovative approach is in applying eco-construction methods to building a campus, and also centering higher education on creating sustainable jobs. To build the campus, we will use locally sourced materials that also happen to provide excellent thermal mass, and we will also design an integration of various responsible resource production and consumption : 

- renewable energy

- aquaponics to optimise water and food

- conversion of sludge waste to biogas

These are all techniques that exist but have never been combined to build a campus. The campus will have a bioclimatic architecture and integrate principles of biophilic design, I want this to be a selling point for faculty and students, and offer a great alternative to life in Dakar. I also want people to experience a real shift in their thinking, and have a greater sense of community and respect for their environment after living in this community. This change will occur over time.

The breakthrough innovation will come from the fact that : 

- the campus design will include women thanks to safety on campus, child daycare, women healthcare and provision of ecological feminine hygiene products

- the experiential learning approach making students involved in campus life, and also with the communities that will welcome the project.

We are currently preparing for the first batch of executive education cohorts that will start in September 2022, so no one is affected yet. 

As of September 2022, we will affect around 60 students with 4 executive education programs in Dakar by employing 10 staff : Urban management / Social Entrepreneurship / Climate Finance / Eco-construction. Meanwhile we will start the construction of the campus hopefully, which will bring a steady stream of revenues to around 50 workers for the building and another 30 people for the water, sanitary and hygiene part, aquaponics part, landscaping, solar energy, and typha transformation. That is 150 people all in all. 

In 2026, the school and campus will be up and running at full capacity : 1500 students will be transformed by living on an ecological campus, that will employ 150 people for the classes and operations. Our students will be involved in grassroots work with 500 organizations led by locals. Our 960 graduates by that time will have started companies employing 2000 employees total. So in 2026, we will affect 4150, adding up to the 150 people affected in 2022, that is 4300 people all in all. 

I am the only staff member, I am in the process of contracting 2 consultants. 

I have lived 18 years between Sénégal and Guinea, before moving to France to study at ESSEC Business School. I studied urban planning and urban economics. After being an active part of Doctolib's hypergrowth and success as a Key Account Manager and project manager, I have decided to dedicate myself to sustainable development and education in West Africa. I have prior experience as aproject finance analyst in renewable energy (Green Giraffe). I have expertise in the execution of operational and sales strategy.