The central theme of the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026 is youth empowerment.
They have the aims of establishing sustainable opportunities to develop the younger generations, and in May 2025, the organisers unveiled the Dakar 2026 learning Academy: the flagship legacy program will train and hire more than 400 young professionals in Senegal and the rest of Africa, aged between 21 and 35, in the run-up to the major event in the coming year.
The Academy imparts the necessary skills to the participants, besides leaving a sustainable legacy of proficient event organisers in the region.
The Dakar 2026 Organising Committee has been keen to adopt a holistic approach and, in this regard, incorporated the overall well-being of young people, which encompasses nutrition and hygiene, at the centre of the initiatives.
Dakar en Jeux is a year that has been full of messages and activities that are designed to excite and educate the young generation on these themes.
The Impact Spark programme was created by Dakar 2026 in collaboration with the Lausanne-based association SPARK/innov-action, which is a hybrid of health education and physical activity, with the importance of sport being paramount.
The programme is well structured among the young people aged between 14 and 18 years, covering relevant health problems like malaria prevention and mental health. It is also geared towards addressing the health risks associated with sedentary lifestyles and encouraging healthy and active lifestyles among the youth in a dynamic and sport-oriented method.
Impact Spark has also collaborated with renowned health influencers in the city to deliver the message to the youth since they have a huge following on social media.
Meryamon Arama Ndiaye is an influencer of Impact Spark who has more than 110,000 followers on Instagram. She started in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She said, “When the university was closed and I had much free time, I would be on Instagram, and I kept seeing health-related things that the Americans were creating, and I thought we need it here, too, and there was none.”
Maryam has chosen to undertake the task of sensitizing fellow citizens on burning matters of health.
Her growth has been rapid. She has already established herself as one of the most active voices on the topic of health in Senegalese social media in only five years: “I think it is because I speak their language. I use very hard medical terminologies in very easy ways of understanding, and I believe that is why people find themselves in what I say, and I guess that is how I have created my community, and I am very happy about it.”
To someone like Maryam, who is an influencer, the Youth Olympics in her city is a major honour, and to be chosen to work with the organising team is surreal. “I am glad to be here since this is what I am working towards. The health sensitivity and education that they are introducing through Impact Spark is what I am trying to build with the Senegalese community. They are sporting and simultaneously avoiding some severe health conditions here. Such was the best I could do on behalf of the young ones.”
Her videos are aimed at addressing certain bad habits of the youth, along with the awareness of reproductive health, physical and psychological well-being, and violence against women and children.
To the young athletes who will make Dakar their home in almost two weeks next year, Maryam is convinced that they will enjoy their time exploring the city and its culture, art, and diversity. There is one big piece of advice that I can offer the athletes. Don’t fall for junk food. Your body is in need of very good fuel.
The Impact Spark programme at this year’s Dakar en Jeux is supposed to target even a larger number of people, making them healthier and disease-free and more self-conscious.
