The environment in Senegal is generally conducive to the development of a social and solidarity economy (SSE), but there are still issues to be addressed. At the political level, the creation of a ministry specifically dedicated to SSE has provided the sector with an important steering mechanism, and the creation in 2017 of the SSE Directorate within that ministry is an opportunity for increased awareness, outreach, and advocacy of SSE in public policies. In the City of Dakar, SSEOs find a number of support structures and mechanisms at their disposal for different aspects of the social entrepreneurship process (FODEM, CEPEM, the Mutual Savings and Credit Union and the Housing Cooperative, etc.). Through an array of stand-alone projects, development plans and programmes, the City of Dakar offers a raft of measures to promote SSE.

In spite of these initiatives by the City of Dakar to support communities and social and solidarity economy organizations, implementation of a comprehensive SSE policy is limited by a number of constraints: the lack of a legal framework that reflects the heterogeneity of the sector; the lack of planning, promotion and visibility of the sector in local policy; the professionalization of actors; and the failure to include SSEOs in the sufficiently in the design of public policies.

At the time of their collaboration, Malick Diop was a Jurist and the National Coordinator of the Network of Actors and Local Authorities for Social and Solidarity Economy in Senegal (RACTES), and Aminata Diop Samb was a Jurist and the Director of the Municipal Development and Solidarity Fund of the City of Dakar (FODEM).

This study was carried out in the framework of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)'s project 'Promoting SSE through Public Policies: Guidelines for Local Governments', with support and funding from GSEF.