The Salesian parish in Touba includes residents from 76 local villages. Recently, Salesian missionaries opened 15 classrooms to guarantee literacy education for the local community and started technical and vocational training projects. They also created a small sports center and constructed a boarding school that accommodates 60 students aged 12 to 17 who come from distant rural villages.

Salesian missionaries in Touba have developed a new project for the production and sale of soap.

With this initiative, Salesian missionaries and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians who work with the most vulnerable populations are offering the opportunity to support local development in an inclusive way and to strengthen the role of women in rural areas. So far, the project has impacted more than 50 girls and young women from the village of Touba. They are being trained in the production of soap and have been able to start a small emporium where they can market and sell what they produce.

The education of girls and young women helps them to improve their economic resources and those of their families. By earning an income, they are able to improve the health, nutrition and education of their families. In the same space where the soap production and lessons are being held, there is a recreational space. Here, girls and young women meet and share their experiences.

In May 2016, construction was completed on Foyer Don Bosco in Touba. The facility is part of a project named “Guaranteeing access to a quality education for the displaced youth of the rural areas of Touba, Mali,” which has been made possible through funding by the Extremadura International Cooperation Agency for Development (AEXCID) and the Municipality of Utrera.

Foyer Don Bosco is part of the larger St. John Bosco School Complex, an educational center that hosts 60 boarding students who come from rural areas and poor families. Thanks to this new educational facility, youth will now have more opportunities to gain an education and continue their studies. Funding from the project has also provided a new classroom and sports equipment for the center so youth have a chance to participate fully in their school activities.

This project also aims to improve the quality of the educational services provided by investing in teacher education, the purchase of books for the library, the creation of a study hall that will remain open all day, and on the strengthening of the management and planning capability of the center. The goal is provide poor youth in Mali the educational opportunities needed to gain the foundational schooling and then later the vocational and technical skills needed to find and retain employment.