You can contribute to the training of African Ocean Protection Champions!

It is to complete the training of young future African champions in the protection of marine ecosystems in West Africa by teaching them to scuba dive.

Learning is good: putting it into action is better!

Too often, students in West Africa do not have the chance to go and see, discover and try out what they are learning about in their lectures and books.

Imagine learning a language that you never speak; an instrument that you never play … it is incredible!

This is even more true when it concerns the underwater environment. However, this is what two of the Msc. students in 'Aquatic Eco-systems Management', Aliou Ngom and Amadou Sene want and who are keen to 'acquire the basics in scuba diving to be able to have in-depth knowledge' (no pun intended). The problem is that they cannot afford to do this, and IUPA (the University Fishing and Aquaculture Institute) does not have a big enough budget to offer this to its students.

Ecofund, the students' professor, Malick Diouf and Nathalie Cadot, project partner, will focus on a team of three (3) of the 15 Msc. students at IUPA (Cheik Anta Diop University, Dakar), who, after a tough selection procedure, will be chosen to become 'champions' for their Masters and ocean protection spokespersons during World Ocean Day and other upcoming events.

Chosen for their strong motivation and skills, the three (3) students trained in scuba diving will enrich their curriculum with their new skills; in particular through their second year internship, and the publishing of articles and presentations.

Beyond helping them to build a future as expert researchers in the area of ocean protection, you will contribute by giving them a unique experience; a real physical challenge for many of them. They will share their emotions with us during their dives and let us discover Senegal's underwater depths.

This training will be rounded off on 8 June, World Ocean Day, with a clean-up of N’gor Bay's underwater waste and a presentation of the students' discoveries.

The final goal of the project is to make this first underwater diving training a success, and to advocate for it to become part of the university syllabus so that other students can benefit too.