Abdou Coly is a Diola from Ziguinchor, a region located in the green Casamance region in the south of Senegal. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management from the Virtual University of Senegal (UVS), where he is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Management – Finance/Accounting. Abdou was a Volunteer member at YMCA Senegal between 2016 and 2018, at the same time president of the Association Nouvelle Vision des Jeunes Casaçais (NoViJeC) before joining CorpsAfrica/Senegal as a Group 3 Volunteer in November 2018. He was assigned to Passy Ngayène, a village of more than 2,500 inhabitants located in central Senegal on the Gambian border, precisely in the Kaolack Region and next to a cultural heritage site. Abdou has facilitated many community activities and projects such as the initiation of “cleaning days”, school support, and the supervision of literacy classes for 15 adults in the village. Abdou had worked a lot with the women of his host community, particularly in supporting the establishment of a market gardening area of one hectare operated by more than 50 women. Its flagship achievement in the community was the completion of the project to build and equip a health hut to improve access to and conditions of primary health care, especially for women and children. Thanks to his CorpsAfrica experience, Abdou and other alumni of Cohort 3 launched Très’Or, an association that aims to promote the protection of children by emphasizing respect for their rights to identity and education. Indeed, through this association, they work In 2021, Abdou joined the CorpsAfrica/Senegal office as an intern coordinator of a project validated by UNESCO as part of its World Heritage Volunteers program for the organization of an International Cultural Camp on Megalithic sites of Senegambia. During his internship, he worked hard to mobilize resources and partners; which allowed him to familiarize himself with the administrative tasks and procedures of the office and to have been selected for the position of Executive Assistant.
