Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games ramp up preparations and launch plastic‑free pilot

With just 100 days left until the opening ceremony on 31 October 2026, Senegal is accelerating preparations for the Dakar Youth Olympic Games. The organising committee reports that 92 % of the required infrastructure is complete, including the Olympic village in Diamniadio, which will be converted after the Games into student housing and a training centre. Test events are scheduled from August to validate venues, while an extensive volunteer programme has attracted nearly 23 000 applicants for about 6 000 positions. Ticket sales aim for 900 000 tickets, with roughly one‑third reserved for solidarity schemes, and the Olympic flame will travel across the country in September.

In parallel, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development launched a “plastic‑free” pilot project for the Games, supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The initiative will run education and awareness campaigns to curb single‑use plastics, complementing earlier actions such as the delivery of 2 000 waste‑collection bins to Dakar and the enforcement of a 2020 law restricting certain plastics. Both efforts aim to showcase the Games as a model of sport, civic engagement, and environmental responsibility.