The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and the Government of Senegal signed a loan agreement on March 27, 2014 in Dakar for 3.38 million Units of Account (around 2.5 billion CFA francs) to finance the support project for the Virtual University of Senegal (PAUVS). The project brings to 13 the number of active operations in the Bank's public investment portfolio in Senegal, which represents a net amount committed of 227.7 million Units of Account (approximately 167.3 CFA francs).

The document was co-signed by Senegal's Minister of the Economy and Finance, Amadou Ba, and Mamadou Lamine N'Dongo, Resident Representative of the AfDB in Senegal. For N'Dongo, "PAUVS is a specific response to the issue of training for young people. It stresses intensive use of information and communications technologies, in cooperation with the job market."

As a result, the project aims to contribute to more inclusive growth regarding equality of treatment and opportunities. It is intended to give young people, both male and female, who have passed their baccalaureate, equal access to further education that will lead to employment.

Project activities include establishing the Virtual University of Senegal (UVS) platform, creating the UVS central office, in addition to strengthening capacities and building and equipping five open digital spaces. These infrastructures will make it possible to reach young people in the suburbs of Dakar, Saint Louis to the north, Thies to the west, Kaolack to the centre-west and Ziguinchor to the south.

Eventually, the project aims to achieve the following outcomes:

more than 6,000 students will be accepted each year;

a 75% success rate in the final year of which 77% are female students in 2018;

50% of UVS graduates will be able to find a decent job within 12 months of leaving, with that figure rising to 60% among female students in 2018.

The AfDB has been active in the education sector since 1986. It has funded five projects in Senegal for a total of 76 million Units of Account, or 55 billion CFA francs, to the benefit of local populations. Other ventures have included the building and equipping 12 local secondary schools, eight middle schools, 123 adult literacy centres and 2,046 classrooms. In addition, 850,000 school books for elementary teaching, 4,460 supplementary facilities and 20 school libraries have been provided. This provision of infrastructure, equipment and books has contributed to raising the gross rate of school attendance, improving the school environment and reducing the use of temporary premises.

Furthermore, within the framework of the support project for rural development in Casamance (PADERCA), the Bank has helped to build, rehabilitate and equip 180 classrooms in the regions of Ziguinchor and Kolda, in the south of the country.

The total amount the AfDB Group has committed to Senegal since 1972 is 1.27 billion Units of Account, or roughly 940 billion CFA francs.