Young Senegalese still await promised change

Wally Faye hoped his life would take off when Senegal’s youngest president swept to power promising radical change, but a year on, the 29-year-old still has no job and is unable to help his parents or get married.

Unemployed since 2019 despite having a master’s in geography, Faye was among the many young Senegalese who voted for change at the top of the west African nation. “I never could have imagined that I’d still be here. I thought that after five, six months, things would really change. But it’s not the case,” Faye, who comes from the central city of Touba, said.

Even so, he still has confidence in President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his charismatic mentor Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, he added. Three quarters of Senegal’s population is aged under 35. Their dreams of a better life helped usher in the Pastef party, whose leaders trumpeted an anti-establishment message and promises of a break from the past.

Angry demonstrators had taken to the streets to rail against ex-president Macky Sall and the possibility he might try for a third term. Dozens of mainly young people were killed during the protests and many more were hurt and traumatised. Despite securing a change of government, however, rampant youth unemployment persists and many struggle to make ends meet.

Unemployment rose from 19.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2023 to 20.3 percent in the same period a year later, according to the National Statistics and Demography Agency (ANSD). Faye and Sonko vowed to tackle the cost of living, justice reform, accountability and migration but say the country was in worse shape than expected, undermining their efforts.

Still, many young people told AFP they remained hopeful. “There is no need to worry yet,” Wally Faye said. “One year is far too early to evaluate a regime. We will give them two or three years to see.”

The new leaders inherited a difficult situation, said 26-year-old master’s student Cheikh Astal Gadiaga.

“Yes, they’re fumbling a bit, but they’re on the right track. People just need to be understanding and patient with them,” he said. But Gadiaga said the new leaders, who have made sovereignty their watchword, must also work on forging new international partnerships to secure funding for their policies. “Sovereignty is fine, but it’s not going to solve Senegal’s problems. They need to open up more to the world,” he said.

Motorbike taxi driver Baye Zale Sarr, 19, and his peers waiting for customers at a busy Dakar market, told AFP they all supported Pastef. Debating the success of Faye and Sonko’s first year in office, one driver complained: “Nothing has changed in this country since their arrival. On the contrary, things have gotten more difficult.”

But Sarr’s view is more tempered. “The state isn’t like a house — you can’t change everything in just one year,” he said. While satisfied by the new government, Sarr said he hoped it would create industries for young people like him to prosper “because being a motorcycle taxi driver isn’t a job that guarantees a future”.

The government has encouraged young people to set up businesses and increased funding for a programme promoting entrepreneurship.

Since 2024, the scheme has financed 40,000 projects costing a total of nearly 26 billion CFA francs ($43 million, 39.6 million euros), according to Modiene Joe Ndiaye, an official involved in the programme.

President Faye has also tasked his government with finalising “a new national employment policy” by the end of next month.

Yet, illegal migration to Europe via a dangerous sea route — resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Senegalese young people last year — continues to soar. Leaving his homeland by sea has never been a consideration for Mame Sidi Sarr, a 19-year-old fisherman who supports the new government. But this year, he said he’d been having a change of heart. “The future is bleak and the sea no longer sustains its people: fish are scarce and fuel is expensive,” he said.