Social Policy Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist

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For every child, the right to a champion.

Senegal, with an estimated population of 19.4 million in 2026, is facing a constrained macroeconomic and fiscal environment that is significantly affecting social sector investments and outcomes for children. Rising debt-servicing obligations have reduced fiscal space, limiting the Government's capacity to sustain and expand development and social spending, including investments in essential social protection systems. These constraints arise at a critical juncture for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with limited time remaining to meet the 2030 targets. Progress in several priority areas - including education, gender equality, clean energy, sustainable cities, and environmental sustainability-has slowed down, requiring substantial additional financing estimated at over 13 per cent of GDP annually. While the Government has adopted a new National Development Strategy (SND 2025-2029), aligned with Vision 2050 and focused on human capital, employment, social protection, and equity, implementation continues to face challenges due to fiscal limitations and high financing needs.

Public financing for children remains insufficient in the face of needs. Although education accounts for approximately 15 per cent of public expenditure, allocations to health (4 per cent), WASH (2.1 per cent), and social protection (2.5 per cent) remain limited, while child protection and early childhood development receive minimal resources. Recent budget revisions suggest stagnation or reductions in key child-focused sectors, alongside increased reliance on indirect taxation, which risks exacerbating inequities.

Child poverty remains widespread and multidimensional, affecting nearly half of all children, with disparities most pronounced in rural and underserved regions. Deprivations in health, nutrition, education, and access to adequate social protection continue to constrain child well-being and human capital development. Chronic malnutrition affects approximately one in six children under five, and school dropout rates and youth exclusion from education, employment, or training are increasing, particularly among vulnerable groups.

Despite progress in water and sanitation, other critical deprivations persist, including inadequate housing, limited access to clean energy, gaps in civil registration, and insufficient coverage of social protection programmes. Climate-related shocks, particularly flooding, are further exacerbating vulnerabilities, disrupting livelihoods and essential services and disproportionately affecting children.

In this context-marked by fiscal constraints, persistent inequalities, and increasing exposure to shocks-UNICEF Senegal has strengthened its focus on upstream engagement, evidence-based policy advocacy, public finance for children, and systems strengthening, including the expansion of adaptive and inclusive social protection systems, to achieve equitable and resilient outcomes at scale. Reducing child poverty, expanding access to gender-transformative and inclusive social protection, improving the efficiency, transparency, and equity of public financing, and strengthenin...