Democracy and Governance

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Senegal remains one of the few stable democracies in West Africa.  It is increasingly becoming a highly centralized government where weak checks and balances undermine good governance.  U.S. assistance focuses on supporting decentralization and development at the local level, promoting government-wide transparency and accountability and decreased influence on the legislature, supporting electoral and political processes and supporting a peace process in the Casamance.

After more than two decades of conflict, a peace process which was gaining momentum in Senegal's southern Casamance region has recently deteriorated and there have been pockets of instability over the past months. USAID's Casamance Program supports peace building activities such as grassroots conflict resolution, peace process advocacy, and training to build local negotiation and conflict resolution skills.  Additionally, USAID invests in youth as future leaders by training young people in conflict resolution and providing them with leadership opportunities to share information with their communities.