The idea of developing ‘Environment and Sustainable Development Sectoral Strategies’ (SEDDs, in its French acronym) in Senegal was born from the observation that climate change, sustainable development and the environment were at best weakly considered in sectoral policies. Therefore, the West African Economic and Monetary Union conducted a study in 2011 to help existing consultation policy frameworks mainstream these topics in sectoral policies.

In Senegal, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD, in its French acronym), through its ‘Study, Planning and Monitoring Unit’, and the Netherlands Cooperation Fund also conducted an evaluation study of the frameworks for cooperation, which highlighted the operational difficulties in mainstreaming these topics.

Through its integrated vision, the SEDDs represent a tool for defining the orientations and priorities for mainstreaming environment, sustainable development and climate change in a given sector, and thus manage inter-sectorality. In Senegal, the SEDDs aim to develop a sectoral version of the national orientation in these three areas. One of the major objectives is to establish an inventory of the current situation in terms of the integration of ‘environment’ and ‘climate change’ aspects in sectoral policies, with a view to produce high-quality strategic documents developed in a participatory manner. Another major goal of the SEDDs is to contribute to the establishment of effective planning tools for sustainable environmental management in sectoral ministries.

The SEDD preparation process is planned to be supported by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg under the Bilateral Cooperation Program, notably the Indicative Cooperation Program (PIC, in its acronym in French), for the period 2018-2022. The SEDDs constitute a good practice as they are innovative and replicable in nature, driven by the stakeholders themselves, and spurring inter-sectoral cooperation and learning.