With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac

In 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, the government had launched a distribution of food kits: bags of rice, packets of sugar and cans of oil. This time, it is a cash transfer via mobile phone. Beneficiary households, identified beforehand by local committees, are registered in the National Unique Registry. An operation within the framework of a "voluntarist social inclusion policy", according to President Macky Sall.

"The objective is to give 80,000 francs per household and thus improve their level of consumption and the education of their children. We succeeded in this goal thanks to an innovative financial structure in terms of social assistance and national solidarity."

It is a "targeted and efficient" approach according to the director of operations of the World Bank, the main financial partner of the program. For Nathan Belete, it allows each beneficiary family "to meet their particular needs, by shopping from merchants and by stimulating the local economy".

Direct aid, but whose effectiveness is not guaranteed, estimates economist Souleymane Astou Diagne: "This mechanism does not allow the government to tackle the ills of the Senegalese economy. Today, the real problem is that of productivity. There is also a weakness of infrastructure, human capital, the lack of control over water and energy. So if this can provide relief, it solves nothing. The effect will be very short-lived."

The teacher-researcher also questions the "electoral motivations" of the operation, ahead of the July legislative elections. According to the authorities, government efforts have resulted in a 5% decline in the poverty rate.

► Also read: Senegal: the government details its economic support measures for households