The Commune of Gandon, located in the Saint-Louis region of Senegal, hosted a fifth specialized training session from February 10 to 13, 2026, to better prepare the Commune for the transition to management at the end of the Project. The objective of the session was to strengthen the Commune's capacity to effectively, autonomously, and sustainably manage the infrastructure inherited from the Saint-Louis Emergency Recovery and Resilience Project (SERRP).

An ambitious project to address climate challenges

Implemented by the Government of Senegal with support from the World Bank and executed by ADM, the SERRP (Special Relocation and Reintegration Project) addresses the dramatic consequences of the 2017 and 2018 climate disasters that struck the Saint-Louis region. The project aims to resettle approximately 15,000 displaced people from the Langue de Barbarie peninsula at the Diougop site in the Gandon municipality. To this end, 436 modern housing units have been constructed, along with essential social and economic infrastructure, including a health post, a market, an economic and development zone (ZAED) in Ndiawdoune, and road and drainage networks. Furthermore, participatory socio-economic projects are also being developed in collaboration with and for the benefit of the displaced populations to strengthen their economic resilience and restore their livelihoods.

Beyond the relocation and resettlement of the populations of the Langue de Barbarie and as part of strengthening territorial resilience, the project will proceed with the requalification of the 20m strategic setback strip freed up in order to sustainably secure the coastline against coastal erosion.

From beneficiary to manager: a crucial change of status

The training session that is about to begin represents a pivotal moment for the Municipality of Gandon. It is no longer simply a matter of benefiting from the infrastructure built, but of becoming fully responsible for its daily management and sustainability with a strong community dimension.

While the fourth training session, held in September 2025, allowed for a complete inventory of the infrastructure and collective equipment and an assessment of the ship's condition, this session consists of officially handing over the commands, ensuring that the crew has all the necessary tools to navigate autonomously to the destination.

The achievements of the previous session

The fourth training session on the governance and management strategy for municipal infrastructure and equipment, conducted by the SERRP project, marked a crucial milestone by enabling the complete inventory and categorization of assets integrated into the municipal heritage. It also allowed for a frank assessment of the Municipal Technical Services (MTS), revealing minimal operations due to understaffing and a lack of logistical resources. Participants also began developing a management, upkeep, and maintenance (MEM) "toolkit," including initial forms for identifying and assessing technical needs.

However, not all the topics necessary for the final transfer had been covered. This session therefore allowed us to finalize this process operationally, transforming the theoretical knowledge into concrete management tools.

Three modules for complete mastery

The training was structured around three complementary modules, each addressing a specific challenge.

. technical consolidation and the development of a Consolidated Asset Management Scheme (SGPC);

. the legal and contractual framework of the transfer, such as the transfer protocol between the Agency

Municipal Development (ADM) and the Municipality of Gandon, or contracts or agreements for the management of the ZAED (Zone d'Aménagement et d'Exploitation des Entreprises - Business and Development Zone), markets and other community facilities;

. the post-project governance strategy, the interactions between the different monitoring bodies and the development of an overall roadmap.

Multiple challenges for the municipality

In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Pierre Coly, Director of Capacity Building at ADM, emphasized that the challenges facing the Municipality of Gandon are multifaceted and require a radical paradigm shift. The Municipality must now equip itself with all the necessary human and material resources to manage the legacy of the SERRP (Regional Water and Sanitation Service). In terms of local governance, elected officials must now assume a central role in the formal recognition of the structures as part of the municipal heritage, define management and operational procedures, and establish governance and community participation mechanisms.

The legal and financial implications are no less significant. The new financial regime for local authorities requires rigorous recording of achievements in the inventory and asset accounting, a clarification of responsibilities between the authorizing officer, the accountant and the technical services, as well as anticipation of recurring expenses.

Finally, from a technical and operational point of view, the lack of functional and equipped municipal technical services, although there is an encouraging start to structuring, represents a major risk of rapid degradation of infrastructure, which could compromise the effectiveness of the investments made and the territorial resilience sought by the project.

Faced with all these transformation challenges, ADM has committed to supporting the Commune of Gandon through these capacity-building sessions, advisory support and the provision of technical assistance by making available a consultant responsible for providing close coaching.

A broader responsibility for the municipality

Beyond the technical maintenance of infrastructure, the Municipality of Gandon is entrusted with increased responsibilities in economic and social development. It must ensure the security of the sites to prevent any behavior likely to accelerate the deterioration of the facilities and the living environment in Diougop. This monitoring and community engagement aspect is essential to ensuring the long-term viability of the project.

The municipality must also mobilize sustainable resources through fees from commercial facilities built by the Project (market, mini-market, shops, restaurants, pharmacy, etc.), the local economic contribution (CEL) from the PIC and PROSE programs, and various taxes to cover recurring expenses related to the GEM (Global Energy Management). The strategic objective is clear: to achieve financial autonomy that will allow for the preventive and corrective maintenance of the SERRP's investments in Diougop through a viable and stable economic model, without systematically relying on external funding.

Towards successful empowerment

With the SERRP project scheduled to close in June 2026, the window of opportunity to support this transition is limited. The training session therefore took on an operational urgency. Its aim is to equip the municipality with all the necessary tools before the withdrawal of the ADM (Agency for the Development of Municipal Services), in order to avoid any institutional vacuum or rapid deterioration of infrastructure.

The expected results are ambitious but essential. At the end of the training, the Municipality of Gandon was to (i) have a consolidated asset management plan, (ii) be familiar with the specific contractual instruments, (iii) have validated the legal framework for the transfer and (iv) be able to implement an effective horizontal and territorial governance strategy.

This session brought together the administrative authority, elected officials and staff of the Municipality of Gandon, representatives of the Municipality of Saint-Louis, as well as teams from the Regional Development Agency (ARD) and the ADM. Together, they are working to make Gandon a model of responsible and sustainable municipal management, capable of transforming a legacy project into a quality territorial public service for the 15,000 people relocated and the entire municipal population.