By Serigne Kandji, Team Leader

An initial survey at the onset of the Millennium Villages project revealed a wide range of structural problems that were holding back the Potou cluster including: poor infrastructure, widespread illiteracy, gender inequalities and limited access to quality water, sanitation, energy and health services. The only clinic, located in Leona, was run down and ill-equipped at best, and was unable to meet the demand of the more than 30,000 inhabitants. Food insecurity and malnutrition were widespread across the area largely as a result of inadequate agricultural production due to poor growing conditions.

The project tackled these constraints through strategic planning and implementation, with the support of the Government, international and local partners and the community. The food deficit that prevailed prior to the project is now largely offset. Onion production, the primary income-generator in the cluster, is thriving at an unprecedented pace, thus improving the wellbeing of thousands of households. Piped water is now available in all villages. The building of new clinics, classrooms and schools throughout the cluster is bringing basic healthcare and education closer to the population. Mobility of people and goods within the cluster has significantly improved with the recent completion of new feeder roads, although more needs to be done.

Building on these achievements, the Potou team has identified a few priorities that need to be addressed in the coming months:

• Continuation of efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality;
• Extension of feeder road network for better mobility of people and goods;
• Expedited connection to the conventional electricity grid, maintenance of solar PV systems already installed in the cluster, installation of the community radio and multimedia centers, internet coverage, and the use of mobile telephony for health services;
• Empowerment of the Leona Rural Council to mobilize resources and implement the newly upgraded Local Development Plan (LDP);
• Reinforcement of community based organizations to make them more self reliant;
• Development of a strategy for the sustainable management of community workers;
• Identification and development of workable business plans (agriculture, fisheries, and livestock) to boost the local economy;
• Expansion of agro-forestry based interventions for environmental sustainability