Pape Cheikh Sarr, MARCAD Plus PhD fellow, was awarded the Science for Africa Foundation’s Community Engagement Grant

The project titled "Socio-cultural Days on Mosquitoes and Malaria in the Village", led by MARCAD Plus PhD fellow Pape Cheikh Sarr, is among the projects selected for the Community Engagement Grant. This funding by the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA Foundation) is for two years.

"I am very honored to be among those whose projects have been selected. The Community Engagement Grant is an excellent initiative to encourage researchers to engage in dialogue and interactions to tackle the challenge of community engagement," said Pape Cheikh.

Through his project, the MARCAD Plus fellow aims to work in a unified manner to combat both the vector and the disease by removing barriers and fostering dialogue between scientists, the community, and policymakers.

The project "Socio-cultural Days on Mosquitoes and Malaria in the Village" is part of Pape Cheikh’s MARCAD Plus research project, which primarily focuses on his study area in northern and central Senegal.

According to the PhD fellow, these regions lack community involvement in malaria control programs.

"Our project will allow communities to better understand the purpose of our research and also give them the opportunity to share their contributions with us in the fight against vectors and malaria," emphasized Pape Cheikh.

As part of the implementation of his Community Engagement Grant, the MARCAD Plus PhD fellow and his team plan to organize socio-cultural awareness and interaction days in the villages of Mbine Coly and Keur Martin in central Senegal, and Darou Salam in northern Senegal.

During these designated days, Pape Cheikh and his team plan to organize theatrical performances, debates, and other interactive activities.

"Each participant will have the opportunity to express themselves and propose ideas in the context of vector control. The most relevant responses regarding mosquitoes and their role in transmission, as well as measures to combat malaria, will be rewarded," Pape Cheikh specified.

"We will also conduct a comparative study between the villages and over time following our activities. We will also develop vector control management strategies tailored to the specific needs of the community to maintain sustainable exchanges between us scientists and the non-scientific public. I will ensure that my project meets the expectations of the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA Foundation)," added the PhD fellow.

To better understand the expectations of SFA for this grant, Pape Cheikh Sarr participated in the official launch of the Community Engagement Grant, held from January 19 to 24 in Nairobi, Kenya. The main objective of the meeting was to support the grant recipients in the effective implementation of their projects.

"We have understood the importance of community engagement in supporting scientists in their activities and promoting the involvement of the population. We have also learned that there are several ways to carry out community engagement, and depending on our goals and target audience, one approach may be more suitable than another. It is therefore essential to determine which approach is the most appropriate to achieve our objectives, while also considering the feasibility in terms of duration and grant amount. This meeting also gave us the opportunity to gather the opinions of other participants and their feedback to improve our projects," emphasized Pape Cheikh.