Women Are Driving Dakar 2026’s Olympic Education Legacy Across Senegal’s Schools

With a target of 900,000 young people in 11,000 schools, female educators and sports facilitators are at the heart of the Youth Olympic Games’ most enduring impact

Long before the first athlete competes at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in October, a quieter but equally significant transformation is already underway in classrooms, sports fields, and community centres across Senegal. At the centre of it are women — educators, trainers, youth leaders, and coordinators — who are shaping what may prove to be the Games’ most lasting contribution to the country.

The vehicle for that transformation is the Brevet Olympique Civique et Sportif, a national Olympic civic and sports certification programme that forms the educational cornerstone of Dakar 2026’s legacy. Underpinned by the Olympic Values Education Programme, the BOCS aims to reach 900,000 young people aged between 9 and 15 across 11,000 Senegalese schools before the Games begin — an ambition matched in scope only by the gender equity built into its delivery architecture.

Near-Perfect Gender Parity in the Delivery Team

The team responsible for implementing OVEP across Senegal — a group of educators, youth leaders, and sports facilitators training teachers at scale — operates with near-perfect gender parity. That is no accident. Fanta Diallo, Engagement and Mobilisation Director for Dakar 2026, whose department oversees the national rollout, describes women as integrated at both governance and operational levels, playing active roles in curriculum delivery, teacher training, mentoring, and school support.

The programme’s reach extends even into Senegal’s community centres for kindergarten-age children, ensuring that Olympic values of excellence, respect, and friendship are introduced from the earliest years of a child’s development.

Girls as Beneficiaries and Leaders

Facilitating equal access to sport, education, and leadership is a stated priority of the BOCS, and the results bear that out. Girls represent almost 50 percent of the programme’s beneficiaries — a meaningful achievement in a country where cultural and socioeconomic barriers continue to limit sporting and educational opportunities for many young women.

Targeted outreach in schools and community settings goes beyond participation numbers. In one secondary school, a group of girls involved in an OVEP club independently designed and delivered a “values through sport” day, coordinating the full event and leading awareness sessions on respect and fair play. Several of those students subsequently took on leadership roles in other school clubs and community initiatives, with teachers reporting noticeable improvements in public speaking, decision-making, and confidence.

Voices From the Field

For Aïchatou Diop, a swimming coach turned Dakar 2026 Organising Committee member whose six years of volunteering shaped her own trajectory, the message she carries to girls across Senegal is direct. “Do not set limits for yourself — there are many possible paths,” she says, her own story embodying the belief.

Cécile Faye, Director of the National Olympic Academy of Senegal, frames female leadership in the programme as a values transmission mechanism as much as an operational one. “What makes female leadership important in society is transmitting values to young girls,” she explains. “Seeing them become autonomous and reproducing the same behaviours is reassuring.”

For OVEP trainer and youth engagement specialist Awa Ndao, the programme’s impact is best measured not in statistics but in moments — in what she describes as the smiles of children who feel genuinely included and valued. Her summary of the programme’s ambition is simple and expansive: “drawing inspiration from Olympism to build a better world.”