A new project announcement is always a point of pride for our teams. This is even truer when the announcement is made by the minister himself!
Last month, the office of Jean-Yves Duclos, Quebec City MP and Federal Health Minister, held a press conference to announce the Natur’ELLES project in Senegal.
Duclos spoke on behalf of the Minister of International Development, Harjjit S. Sajjan, to acknowledge the government of Canada’s funding of $20 million for this project.
“Combating the impacts of climate requires support for adaptation around the world. Through this partnership with SOCODEVI and its Natur’ELLES project, we are directly helping 8,000 people, three quarters of whom are women living in vulnerable mangrove ecosystems. In addition, through these climate adaptation initiatives in Senegal, we will be indirectly helping over 85,000 people across 133 local communities. Our efforts to support other countries attest to our commitment to working together to fight climate change impacts.”
– Jean-Yves Duclos, Health Minister
Our Executive Director, Jean-Philippe Marcoux, as well as the President of SOCODEVI and Promutuel Assurance representative Suzanne Mailhot, were in attendance to talk about this initiative. The new project is poised to help better restore biodiversity in mangrove areas, while addressing the livelihoods of the people who rely on these ecosystems.
With Natur’ELLES, SOCODEVI will be working toward mangrove protection through an ecosystem approach, including a focus on nature-based solutions. We will be taking into account the interactions between terrestrial and marine aquatic environments, as we as the interdependence between natural resource preservation, food security and the development of economic activities, mainly for women, which support biodiversity.
– Jean-Philippe Marcoux, SOCODEVI Executive Director
This new project demonstrates SOCODEVI’s and Canada’s faithful commitment to the Senegalese people. This new initiative seeking to benefit thousands of families is another example of the close cooperation between our organization and the Government of Canada.
– Suzanne Mailhot, President of SOCODEVI
The three-year Natur’ELLES project will support the populations of the Sine Saloum and Casamance deltas in southern Senegal with the help of several international and local partners.