Over thirty female contestants and leaders across all political parties participated in a consultative meeting to review the gender concerns in the last local government area council elections. The meeting validated the reports on the pre-election activities with the potential female contestants reviewing the participation of women in the 2008 Local Government Election. The meeting was held at Pakalinding Lodge, Lower River Region (LRR).

In her remarks, the Executive Director of GAMCOTRAP, Dr Isatou Touray, emphasised that the project on women's political participation is supported by the Open Society Initiative of West Africa-(OSIWA) and that it is not about partisan politics but rather it aims at creating political awareness amongst women to empower them within their own parties.

Dr. Touray called for unity of purpose, solidarity and trustworthiness in the struggle for women’s empowerment, pointing out that as women there had commonalities, specificities and differences, but that they should all work for the interest of all women, no matter what their partisan inclination were.

Speaking to the participants, a consultant on women and political participation, Honourable Nyimasata Sanneh, the first Gambian female elected Parliamentarian, informed them that GAMCOTRAP was interested in creating awareness on women’s rights and empowerment and that they choose the rights targets for their activities. She emphasised that it was critical to engage women in decision making positions in promoting their rights in politics. GAMCOTRAP was commended for the initiative to engage women leaders from different parties across the country to revisit the interest of women in the political processes.

The participants highlighted some of the challenges female contestants were faced with, amongst which were the concern that women leaders are used in election as political representatives and not for the strategic interest of women; challenges posed by the attitude in their various parties’ select committees; sexual harassment during campaign period; lack of funding for female candidates during campaign; reluctance of elite women to contest for elections, amongst others.

The participants recommended for a sensitisation on the local government act and the role of area councillors, to train women on leadership and other skills to enhance their knowledge on policies and laws affecting them, to sensitise young girls on reproductive health and rights, call for a national forum across parties to discuss the gender concerns in vying for elections for the interest of all women and promote solidarity and positive campaign strategies within and across parties. It was emphasised that women should be recognised  in their own rights as citizens and that they should work in solidarity.