“Badiène embodies solidarity, mentorship and women’s success in the digital sector.” Launched in 2021 by FESTIC and Sonatel, in partnership with FBN and ISOT, the Badiène programme — Gougué Beu Tekki, ‘Women: the driving force behind success’ — was born out of a shared ambition: to promote female leadership and academic success among young girls in Senegalese state secondary schools. Faced with a lack of female role models in the scientific and digital fields, the programme has chosen intergenerational mentoring as its key strategy. A schoolgirl cannot envisage herself in a profession she has never seen a woman practise: Badiène pairs her with a female professional for a whole year. OBJECTIVES AND METHOD To encourage young girls to pursue studies in science and technology. To mobilise thirty mentors from FESTIC and Sonatel. Structure the mentoring programme across the entire school year: support, workshops and personalised follow-up, backed by a comprehensive educational pack — a mentor’s guide, progress sheets and practical workshops. ACTIVITIES Mentor Talk & Coaching: sharing experiences, personal development, academic guidance. STEM and Soft Skills workshops: design thinking, public speaking, collaborative working. Team-building activities: excursions, team-building exercises, community initiatives. RESULTS AND IMPACT Operating in six pilot secondary schools in Dakar and Thiès. Over 150 young girls supported since 2021. A 48 per cent increase in the proportion of pupils choosing science-based courses. The emergence of a community of female leaders, united by sisterhood and education. JOIN THE PROGRAMME Each year, the programme recruits mentors — digital professionals ready to support a secondary school girl — and welcomes new mentees from partner schools. Applications can be submitted via the ‘Get Involved’ page.
Who it's for
- Schoolgirls from partner state schools
- in Dakar and Thiès.
- Young women who are hesitant to pursue a career in science or technology.
- Women working in the digital sector who would like to become mentors.
- Female staff members from FESTIC and Sonatel committed to passing on knowledge.
Selection criteria
- For mentees: to be enrolled at one of the partner secondary schools.
- For mentors: working in the digital sector or a science-related field.
- Commit to the whole school year — consistency is what makes mentoring so effective.
- No previous mentoring experience is required: each mentor is provided with a guide and monitoring forms.
Who the facilitators are
- Women working in digital and scientific fields
- from FESTIC and Sonatel.
- Available to provide ongoing support throughout the school year.
- Comfortable sharing their real-life stories
- including its difficulties — that is what makes a model credible.
- Attentive to the school and family circumstances of the schoolgirls they support.
Facilitators' role
- To encourage young girls to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
- To promote female leadership and academic success among female pupils in state secondary schools.
- Recruit thirty mentors from FESTIC and Sonatel.
- To provide young girls with the female role models who are lacking in science and digital fields.
- Organising a mentoring programme that runs throughout the school year
- supported by a shared teaching pack.
Facilitators' responsibilities
- Supporting your mentee throughout the school year
- on a regular basis.
- To lead or co-lead Mentor Talk sessions and workshops.
- Complete the monitoring forms so that the support provided can be properly tracked.
- Notify the co-ordination team in the event of a student dropping out or experiencing particular difficulties.
- Take part in the year group’s key team-building events.
Follow-up and evaluation
- Apply via the ‘Get Involved’ page
- by choosing her role: godmother or goddaughter.
- Selecting and pairing students at the start of the school year.
- Handing over the teaching pack to the mentors: guide
- monitoring forms
- workshop materials.
- Mentoring sessions
- team-building workshops and activities throughout the year.
- End-of-year review shared with partner organisations.
Expected outcomes
- Educational guidance informed by real-life career paths.
- A hands-on introduction to science and technology courses.
- Cross-functional skills: design thinking
- spoken expression
- collaborative work.
- Greater self-confidence and a confident presence in digital professions.
- Joining a community of women leaders
- united by sisterhood and education.
- For mentors: a structured learning experience
- equipped and monitored.
Activity schedule
| Activity | Frequency | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Mobilisation et formation des marraines | Rentrée scolaire | Trente marraines issues du FESTIC et de la Sonatel, outillées par le guide et les fiches de suivi. |
| Constitution des binômes marraine–filleule | Début d’année scolaire | Chaque lycéenne accompagnée est reliée à une professionnelle du numérique pour toute l’année. |
| Mentor Talk & Coaching | Toute l’année scolaire | Partage d’expériences, développement personnel et orientation scolaire éclairée par des parcours réels. |
| Ateliers STEM et Soft Skills | Toute l’année scolaire | Design thinking, expression orale, travail collaboratif et découverte pratique des filières scientifiques. |
| Activités de cohésion et initiatives solidaires | Temps forts de l’année | Excursions et team building qui soudent la promotion et ancrent l’engagement dans la durée. |
| Suivi personnalisé et bilan de fin d’année | Fin d’année scolaire | Fiches de suivi renseignées, choix d’orientation accompagnés et bilan partagé avec les établissements. |
Roadmap
Mentor Talk & Coaching
Regular sessions throughout the school year
Sharing experiences between mentors and mentees, personal development and career guidance. This is at the heart of the programme: a professional shares her real-life journey – including her doubts – with schoolgirls who have never met a woman working in this field.
STEM workshops
Practical workshops
A hands-on introduction to science, technology, engineering and mathematics, through practical experience rather than through the presentation of study pathways.
Soft Skills Workshops
Practical workshops
Design thinking, oral communication and collaborative work — skills that often play just as big a part in determining a student’s future path as their academic results.
Team-building and solidarity activities
Throughout the year
Outings, team-building activities and charitable initiatives: these are what turn a support programme into a community, and ensure that the mentees keep coming back.
Educational pack and personalised support
Ongoing support
A mentor’s guide, progress reports and practical workshops: the common framework that ensures every mentee is properly supported, and that the programme is passed on from one cohort to the next.