The irregular migration of young Senegalese towards Europe is neither new nor a passing headline. It grows out of a deeper pattern, where personal hopes, economic pressure and shared dreams meet. The project launched jointly by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Senegalese government and the Kingdom of the Netherlands speaks to that complexity. It does not stop at informing people; it sets out to change the very conditions that make risky migration look attractive.
In Senegal, as across much of West Africa, young people form the majority of the population. Observers often describe this as a potential “demographic dividend”. But without enough economic opportunity, it also breeds social tension. Reports cite more than 3,500 migrants intercepted in 2025. Beyond the security angle, that figure above all reveals a steady migratory pressure. Behind the data lie individual lives marked by unemployment, precarity and a lack of professional prospects. Seen this way, irregular migration looks less like an irrational choice than like a risky bid to climb the social ladder.
Awa, 26, admits she thought about leaving for a long time. “On social media, you see people making it in Europe. You tell yourself it’s the only way. But after an awareness session, I realised that many people hide the reality,” she says. Ibrahima Diop comes from Saint-Louis. He watches the pirogues lined up on the beach. Some go out fishing; others carry people away in secret. “Three of my friends left. Only one reached Spain. The other two, we’ve heard nothing since. We know it’s dangerous, but staying here with no work is hard too,” he confides. At the ceremony on 13 April that launched the project, Elhadj Abdoul Karim Cissé, Director of Senegalese Abroad, welcomed the initiative. “The signing of this agreement comes at the right moment. It will strengthen the national mechanisms we already have and guide more young people towards real opportunities in employment, training and entrepreneurship.”
Informing is not enough, turning point in migration policy
One of the project’s most important features is a quiet admission: awareness-only approaches have partly failed. For years, migration policy leaned on campaigns about the dangers of the journey. Yet study after study shows that these messages, useful as they are, achieve little when the economic and social conditions stay the same.
Fatou Sall, 22, found these schemes through the caravan. “I didn’t even know there were so many opportunities. We lack information. Now I want to try here before I think about leaving,” she says. This is exactly where the initiative marks a shift: it ties information to concrete alternatives. As Aissata Kane puts it, the aim is to bring about “real and lasting behaviour change”. In other words, the point is no longer just to deter people, but to offer them credible options.
Why economic alternatives matter
One of the project’s pillars rests on access to work, training and entrepreneurship. This trio sits at the centre, because it tackles the root causes of irregular migration head-on. Training in project management and job forums are meant to make young people more employable. But these schemes do more than build technical skills; they also carry a symbolic charge. They put local opportunities back in view, when many young people write them off as limited or out of reach. The mobile careers caravan matters especially here. By reaching young people directly, it narrows the information gap, above all in rural and outlying areas where public services are thin on the ground. The project follows in the footsteps of earlier efforts such as Migrants as Messengers and CinemArena. These programmes rest on a simple but powerful idea: lived stories land harder than institutional messages.
Mamadou, 28, once hesitated to leave before he changed course. “I used to think success meant leaving. Today I’m training in project management. It isn’t easy, but I have a chance to build something here,” he explains. By enlisting migrants themselves to spread the word, these efforts dismantle some of the myths around migration. They show the reality of these journeys, far from the polished images that circulate on social media. The WakaWell digital platform adds a contemporary edge to the strategy. Young people get most of their information online, so reliable content becomes crucial to counter disinformation. The project rests on one more pillar: a coordination mechanism that brings together public institutions, civil society and the private sector. This reflects a wider move in public policy towards more collaborative models. As Rob Van Bokhoven stressed, coordination is essential to lasting results. Migration, after all, is not only a security or economic question; it touches education, culture, governance and international affairs.
Rethinking migration
Beneath the surface, the project carries a larger ambition: to change how people see migration itself. The aim is not to stop it, but to make it “chosen and safe”. That nuance is essential. Migration is part of the human and economic fabric of the world. The task, then, is not to end it, but to let people decide with open eyes and real alternatives in front of them. For all its ambition, the project faces several tests. Scale is one: 5,000 people remain modest against the size of the phenomenon. Sustainability is another: the long-term effects will hang on the capacity to create real jobs. And then there are the dreams themselves, since shifting deep-rooted ideas about success abroad will take time.
This initiative marks a real change in how Senegal approaches irregular migration. By combining information, support and economic opportunity, it tries to match the complexity of the phenomenon. More than a programme, it signals a change of mindset, from deterrence to empowerment. Whether the approach can grow and last remains an open question, and the answer will decide whether Senegal’s young people can look forward to a future in which migrating is a choice, and not a necessity.
