Senegal is committed to achieving gender equality and equity, good nutrition and reproductive health. However, research shows that in Senegal, sociocultural relationships are conditioned by norms and practices favoring men and boys, which — coupled with economic and systemic constraints — limit women and adolescent girls’ access to basic social services, leadership positions, and personal and professional development opportunities, including nutrition and reproductive health. Women and adolescent girls have little influence on decisions related to the management of financial and economic resources, as well as the provision of nutrition and reproductive health services. Women- and youth-led organizations need to be supported to engage in advocacy and programming for these areas.  

PINGS builds on the positive results and lessons learned from PINKK (Integrated Nutrition Project in the Kolda and Kédougou regions), a past project promoting nutrition and food security implemented by Nutrition International between 2015 and 2020. 

This new project, PINGS, has activities at the national, regional and community levels. The project aims to tackle obstacles detrimental to nutrition and reproductive health of women and adolescent girls by integrating gender into strategic plans and services to make them gender responsive, empowering women to take action to meet their needs, and changing attitudes and practices at the community level that support the nutrition and health of women and adolescent girls.  

PINGS activities include: 

• Integrating gender equality into the multisectoral nutrition approach in Senegal. 
• Contribute to the coordination, planning and advocacy for the nutrition multisectoral strategic plan.  
• Supporting the development and implementation of nutrition sectoral action plans that respond to the needs of women and adolescent girls.  
• Supporting the development of financial services tailored to the needs of women to realize the economic potential of women.  
• Testing new financial and operational support mechanisms (incubators) for women entrepreneurs working in food production, processing and preservation.  
• Implementing behaviour change interventions with influential community members including grandmothers, religious leaders, as well as with men, women, adolescent girls and boys, to create an equitable environment that is conducive to the adoption of practices that improve nutrition and reproductive health of women and adolescent girls. 
•  Supporting women’s rights organizations and youth-led organisations to design effective advocacy strategies that can influence nutrition and reproductive health policies and services.  
• Strengthening the integrated monitoring and evaluation mechanism for the execution of the Multisectoral Nutrition Strategic Plan 
• Carrying out research on the determinants of anaemia, including both biological and social factors, to inform a comprehensive, evidence-based national action plan against adolescent anaemia.