At a time when the fate of nationalrepresentative government in Senegal, still hangs in thebalance, a variety of grassroots organizations is seemingly,and unexpectedly laying some of the groundwork for futurechange. Notions of "democracy" - adapted to localSenegalese conditions - are being woven among variousassertions of human rights. The note describes how a ruralwomen's non-formal education program, has beendeveloping a brand of local training in democraticprinciples, and behaviors. Efforts specifically targetedwomen, and included lessons in problem-solving, incomegeneration, African-language literacy, and child health.However, one such effort was a module on women'shealth, which included the taboo subject - women'ssexuality - triggering an unsuspected emphasis on humanrights, particularly as it relates to discrimination, andviolence. The surprising results were conducive to surfacethe term "democracy", laying the foundation for atraining sequence where democracy would be used as a coverterm for the social arrangements, under which human rightscould be guaranteed, and people could determine their owndestiny. Results were evident on a number of fronts:children's rights, girl's access to school, andfemale circumcision, among others. The democracy debateappears to be having major effects on practice, within localassociations, and communities, which includes notions ofaccountability, transparency, and governance.
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