Since the 1970s, and especially with the arrival of the Mozdahir community and their leader Cherif Mohamed Aly Aidara in the early 2000s, the number of native Shi'i Senegalese has steadily increased in both urban and rural areas.[14] According to Leichtman (2017), Mozdahir's various rural development projects help bridge the urban-rural divide among Shi'i Muslims in Senegal, and have helped to increase the number of Shi'i Muslims in Senegal.[15]