How Non Profit Organizations And Charities Are Making The World A Better Place? Self Sufficiency For Village Women - Thieneba, Senegal

Center for Renewable Energy and Appropriate Technology for the Environment (CREATE!) was established in 2008 with the mission of helping rural populations in the developing world cope with water, food and fuel shortages resulting from the impact of climate change on their communities.

Using a participatory approach and appropriate technologies, CREATE! works with communities in rural Senegal to identify and meet their needs in three primary sectors:

Water
CREATE! works with local communities to expand and rehabilitate village wells and water networks; build low cost cisterns for in-ground water collection and storage; establish vegetable gardens and tree nurseries that make efficient use of available water; and utilize renewable solar energy to pump water from wells that are as much as 150 feet deep.

Food
Like many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Senegal is losing productive cropland at an alarming rate. CREATE! works with rural communities to reverse this trend, clearing unused land and restoring it to productivity. Working in cooperative groups, our beneficiaries receive comprehensive training in year-round sustainable crop cultivation and use their own labor and simple tools to clear, fence, plant, water, tend and harvest cooperative community vegetable gardens that yield a bountiful harvest and provide a much needed source of income, all without the use of fossil fuels.

Energy and Environment
Conserving energy and protecting the environment are major challenges throughout sub-Saharan Africa. This is especially true in rural areas, where most cooking is done over open fires and electricity is usually generated using non-renewable, unsustainable and costly diesel fuel. CREATE! is addressing these problems in Senegal by teaching community members to construct and use fuel-efficient cookstoves made from free, local materials; establishing tree nurseries in cooperative community gardens that provide thousands of seedlings for food production, living fences and local reforestation; and installing solar pumping systems to pump water from hand-dug wells.

To learn more about current projects and progress, visit our website at www.createaction.org.