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.