Dakar, Dec 10 (APS) – The National Office for the Wards of the Nation (ONPN) plans to expand its field of action by revising its creation decree deemed “closed” in an evolving world, its general director, Fatima Mbengue, announced on Tuesday.
»(…) we will, in our new missions of the National Office for the Wards of the Nation in 2025, review this decree [La loi n°2006-39 du 21 novembre 2006 portant statut de Pupille de la Nation] which, for me, is a little closed, which is not very open. (…) By reading through the decree and seeing how the world has evolved, has changed, the care, the fields of action must be even more open,” declared the general director.
Speaking in an interview with the APS, as a prelude to the 1st edition of the National Day of the Wards of the Nation scheduled for next Saturday, at the Abdou Diouf international conference center in Diamnadioshe believes that 2025 will be a year of advocacy and reforms.
“We will set up a committee with many specialists so that we can work in depth on the changes we want to make in relation to the people who should be part of it,” she said.
”One of our first projects is to work so that the State can raise the age of taking care of wards up to 21 years, to at least allow these children to continue to receive their allowance’ ‘, she explained.
She welcomed the efforts made by the State to put in place social safety nets allowing these young people to integrate, while recognizing certain problems within the office, particularly budgetary.
According to her, the office will also work to put in place certain mechanisms to ensure that care does not only concern the children of Senegalese state officials or those of victims of tragedies.
”We know that in today’s world, many are not civil servants and they need the help and support of the State of Senegal. I will just take an example of women with mental problems who wander the streets with babies in their hands,” she added.
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