With the village of Thiafoura, in the municipality of Sindia, we are building a local food system: producing, processing, selling.
The project is called TERAL, for "food territories". In Wolof, tëral means to welcome, to honour. It is community-supported agriculture: families, restaurants, hotels and schools commit to buying what the village gardens produce, and the income stays in Thiafoura.
Everything is decided with the village development committee (CVD) and the Thiafoura Women's Union. CREATES implements, trains, documents and measures what works, so that the model can be taken up elsewhere.
A living lab is a laboratory in real-life conditions: research leaves the university and settles in a territory, with its residents. Solutions are tested on site, with the people concerned, and adjusted based on what is observed.
Each CREATES living lab fulfils six functions, centred on food systems. In Thiafoura, each one corresponds to something concrete.
The living lab aims for equity on four levels: ecological, political, economic and socio-cultural.
01
Produce and share knowledge about the territory.
02
Test solutions in real-life conditions.
03
Build a shared vision of the territory.
04
Decide together, including those who are rarely heard.
05
Train and support local stakeholders.
06
Share results and influence public policy.
The mother garden, the Tolou Keur, has been rehabilitated: fencing, nursery, irrigation and a building on the site. Four neighbouring gardens, run by families and groups, will be strengthened to produce all year round.
The Thiafoura Women's Union will run the processing unit: bissap concentrate, moringa products, children's cereals, tomato paste, drying. The unit is partly equipped, not yet operating.
A cold room will reduce post-harvest losses and make it possible to sell at the right time, especially to the city.
Tricycles will connect the gardens, the processing unit and customers, with an order and delivery system.
A selling point is being negotiated at the Somone market. Baskets will be offered to households, restaurants, hotels and schools, with support from the RACINES network.
Producers, processors, customers and elected officials write the rules together: who does what, how prices are set, how income circulates. The food system diagnostic of September 2026 is the first step.
The CREATES centre will be built in the middle of the living lab. It will host training, demonstrations and visits from other villages that want to take up the model. Meanwhile, training takes place in the garden.
2025
Rehabilitation of the mother garden: fencing and nursery, with the Bey Diiwaan project.
October 2025
2026
Irrigation installed in the mother garden.
May 2026
August 2026
Agroforestry training in the garden, and birth of the Thiafoura Women's Union.
September 2026
Food system diagnostic with local stakeholders, at Sindia town hall.
Next step
Construction of the CREATES centre in the middle of the living lab.
The village development committee: where the village decides and assigns responsibilities.
It will run the processing unit.
It manages the medicinal forest.
Ousmane, Marième, Maïmouna and Mariama work in the mother garden every day. The State has assigned three young women to the Tolou Keur, including Mariama.
Implements, trains, documents on film and measures the results.
The University of Bern, ENDA PRONAT and IPAR oversee TERAL; Nitidæ is our partner in Bey Diiwaan.
The mother garden covers 2 hectares in Thiafoura, in the municipality of Sindia (Mbour department), about 5 km from Somone as the crow flies.
14.52406, -17.05763
Outline from the cadastral plan (licensed surveyor, June 2026)
Open in Google Maps →
2025 - 2027
Thiafoura is the Petite Côte living lab of Bey Diiwaan, with the Liechtenstein Development Service. The project funded the rehabilitation of the mother garden.
2026 - 2027
With the University of Bern and the SOR4D programme, TERAL sets up the production, processing and sales system, from 2026 to 2027.
