PACTE was created in Ziguinchor in 1996 in order to better respond to the improvement of the quality of life of the populations and to support the development of local communities; PACTE is involved in strengthening participatory governance and access to basic social services:
Community Health
Sanitation / Drinking water
Housing
Roads and urban services
Education
Local economic development
PACTE is a Senegalese association of international solidarity which aims to be an incentive, innovation, promotion and support framework for community initiatives of social and urban development aimed in particular at improving the conditions and the living environment of poor populations.
PACTE bases its action on the conviction that cross-cultural confrontation, as well as the exchange of experiences and methodologies between communities and actors from the North and the South, can be a powerful catalyst for group dynamics, but also factors for bringing together and progress.
PACTE, in strengthening participatory governance and access to basic social services, aims primarily to develop the self-care capacities of populations through involvement and progressive empowerment in the resolution of their different needs, but also in the management and control of their environment.
The recommended strategies, although carried out at the local level, seek to be part of global development dynamics and to be articulated in a manner consistent with municipal and regional policies. “Act local, think global”. It favors participatory methods, action research and ensures that the capacities of the actors concerned are strengthened.
The association seeks by implementing the means at its disposal to serve the general interest and to promote local democracy, a prerequisite for endogenous and sustainable development.
PACTE currently operates in Senegal, mainly in the natural region of Casamance.