On 28 October 2025, Amend and its partner LASER International inaugurated new road-safety infrastructure around Nalla Ndiaye and François Mbaye Salzmann primary schools, in the Darou Salam neighborhood of Saint-Louis, Senegal.
Selected in collaboration with local authorities, the two schools were identified as priority sites for Amend’s interventions as early as 2023. This followed reports that at least six children had been injured in collisions involving motorised vehicles (moto-taxis and cars) near the schools in the previous 18 months.
Designed to keep children separate from traffic and slow vehicle speeds, the new measures benefit not only the schools’ immediate population – around 1,300 pupils in 2025 – but also the wider Darou Salam community.
Amend’s interventions follow a deliberately people-centred design approach. The goal is to slow traffic where children are most likely to encounter vehicles, create protected walking routes, and ensure school entrances are safe and clearly marked. To identify the most effective improvements, Amend teams and LASER International volunteers carry out site assessments before the design phase. These include vehicle-speed surveys, observations of pedestrian and traffic flows, and qualitative interviews with the school community.
Between August and October 2025, Amend and its partners designed and carried out the construction of the new infrastructure, working under the guidance of local communities and Senegalese authorities (AGEROUTE, the technical department of the Saint-Louis municipality, and the Prefecture).
Improvements carried out:
- François Mbaye Salzmann Primary School (570 pupils), pink zone: To address the risks, 3 speed bumps and 5 pedestrian crossings were installed, along with sidewalks on both sides of the school wall. Chain-linked bollards were added along part of the sidewalk next to the school to guide pedestrians toward safer crossing points.
- Nalla Ndiaye Primary School (710 pupils), blue zone: The measures implemented include 2 speed bumps, 2 pedestrian crossings, pothole repairs, paving of the sidewalk alongside the school wall, and appropriate signage.
These measures were also introduced in front of two schools in the city of Thiès in November 2024, as part of a broader Safe Schools Africa programme (Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, 2023-2025) co-funded by the Agence Française de Développement and the FIA Foundation. See the project retrospective video from Thiès.
