What Does It Mean to Be a “Njiit”? Women in Rural Senegal Talk About What Makes a Leader

In Senegal’s Kaffrine region, women have been stepping into leadership roles, pulling up chairs to the negotiating table, and leading key initiatives that will ensure the sustainability of their energy supply and their household’s financial resources while also preserving forest ecosystems and enhancing their region’s climate resilience. Empowered by the World Bank Group’s Second Sustainable and Participatory Energy Management Project (PROGEDE 2), which places women at the center of sustainable forest management and wood fuels supply management, six of Kaffrine’s women share what it means to them to be a “Njiit”, the term for leader, in Wolof.