Saint Joseph’s Adult Education and Skills Centre on Wednesday held its graduation ceremony at the centre in Banjul.

In her keynote address, Ms Bernadette Fefegula of the Catholic Development Office (CaDO) who was also the guest speaker stated that gone are the days when women used to belong only to the kitchen and farms.  She thanked President Jammeh for putting great value on educating the girl child and urged them to utilise the opportunities accorded to them with strength and confidence.

She expressed delight with the center for improving and developing their social and economic status. She then advised graduates to count themselves lucky to have had such great opportunities. She also advised them to share with others, saying “in that way, you are playing your part in developing and empowering other young women and their families”.

For her part, Sister Pauline Leahy, project manager, revealed that eighteen students were graduating, after spending two years in computer training. She said the aim of the centre is to enhance knowledge, skills, attitudes and values of young women for their personal and social development, adding that they always create awareness on children and women’s rights as well as to ensure their promotion and respect through communication for behavioural change.

Sister Pauline Leahy then thanked all those who have supported them in making them realise their aspirations.

Miss Nyima Gomez, a graduating student, gave the vote of thanks.

More than 140 countries worldwide will observe world population day today ,11 July 2008.

The theme of this year’s world population day is ‘ Family planning: It’s a right; let’s make it real’. The theme provides a chance to raise awareness of the many benefits of family planning, including its vital role in enhancing maternal health, gender equality and poverty reduction.

According to reports from the UNFPA, forty years after world leaders proclaimed that individuals have basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children Modern contraception remains out of reach for hundreds of millions of women and men. The report added that, this year’s World Population Day activities will vary in scope and nature, ranging from performances and exhibitions, to sports competitions, seminars and cultural events and all activities will have one common goal, which is to reaffirm the right of people to plan their family size, thereby helping to make this right real.

In his World Population Day message, Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations secretary-general  said that studies show that family planning has immediate benefits for the lives and health of mothers and their infants. He urged people to focus on the critical importance of family planning if the Millennium Development Goals are to be successfully achieved .

He said “let us take action to reduce maternal mortality and achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015. Let us devote greater attention and resources to the work, to improve the health and quality of life for all people,” the UN boos emphasised.

In a separate message, Thoraya Ahmed Obald, executive director of the United Nations Population Funds said that, family planning is essential to women’s empowerment and gender equality. “When a woman can plan her family,, she can plan the rest of her life” said Ms Obaid.

According to her, family planning is also an effective means in the fight against poverty, adding that parents can plan ahead and devote more of their resources to the education and health of each child.

The Youth Ambassadors of Peace (YAP), on Saturday, concluded a two-day validation workshop on their Base Line Survey Report on school attendance for the 2006/07 accademic year in RegionTwo, held in Brikama.

The Commonweath Education Fund (CEF) The Gambia, entered into partnership with the Youth Ambassadors of Peace to commit the skills and expertise of its members to conduct advocacy activities in schools. The activities were geared towards facilitating improvment in school attendance for the attainment of quality education in general.
 
Among other things, the objective of the survey was to pave a way out to carry advocacy activities in most of the secondary and upper basic schools to help improve school attendance, performance and peace building. The survey is also meant to lobby the policy makers to put quality education on the social and political agenda for the purpose of effecting positive change.

The Youth Ambassadors of Peace thus conducted a Base Line Survey to verify the actual number of teacher-pupil contact hours attained in schools in 2006/07 academic year.

In an interview with the Daily Observer shortly after the validation workshop, Fabakary Kalleh, executive secretary of YAP said the validation has brought together stakeholders to validate the findings of the Base Line Suvey.

“We will use the survey report to advocate for changes. Although the policy stated that all regions should develop their own calenda there should be a benchmark which says the  teacher-pupil contact hours should be at least 880 hours. It will be interesting to note that The Gambia has the lowest contact hours in the sub-region,” he said.

Salifu Jobe, a representative of the Regional Education Director, Region Two, said the workshop was a starting point for awareness on educational issues to youth groups.

“It can help in the attainment of quality education,” he emphasised.

In her keynote remarks on behalf of the governor of Western Region, Sainabu Faal, assistant governor of the region, said she was elated that YAP came up with a such a wonderful initiative. Ms Faal assured YAP of her office’s continued support at all times. She urged participants to take the workshop seriously.

Sickle Cell Association Banjul Chapter in London Corner Serekunda, on Saturday organised a symposium on sickle cell disease at St Thereses Junior Secondary School ground, in Kanifing.

Speaking at the symposium, Lamin Demba, Secretary general of the association, said the symposium was meant to create awareness for school children as well as the Gambian community at large ,about the disease. He outlined the formation of the association with its primary objectives ,such as Case management of genetic counselling among others.  

He then observed that through sensitisation, there can be a world, free of health,economic and social disparities cause by sickle cell disease.

Lamin Jaiteh, a Doctor at RVTH highlighted on the effects of the disease, noting that sickle cell is a blood disease ,which affects the red bloodcell. “Since 80% of the oxygen in the body is carried by red blood cells, sickle cell disease can lead to theblockage of blood transportation to the bones and capillaries, which can eventually cause stroke” he said.

According to him, the sickle cell disease was discovered by a school boy in USA and was described as a genetic disease, meaning, it could be inherited from parents. “In 1970, it was confirmed as a result of deprivation of oxygen” he said .The damage of the red blood cells can cause anaemia and  lead to kidney failure,he continued.  

To pregnant women, Mr.Jaiteh said ,the disease can cause miss-carry and lead to pre-mature born.

The way forward continued:

On the proposed way forward suggestions were made in the first part of this article published two weeks ago (Friday 27th June).

These touched specifically on selected procedural and structural measures needed now as part of the progress towards the institutionalisation of the local government Act 2002 and local government finance and audit Act 2004, and their amended versions.

The accounting policy and manual, multidisciplinary facilitation teams, and the prescribed local government service instruments were some of the examples cited as recommended structures and processes that need to be strengthened in ensuring the financial accountability of councils, a judicious transfer of local government competences, an effective decentralised planning and development system, local government financing and local government human resources planning and development. In an attempt to shed a more light on the transfer of competences and to draw attention to its centrality in the conduct of our decentralisation process, this has been highlighted again in the present continuation.

The need for the adoption of a decentralisation secretariat as suggested in two major consultancy reports separately in 2006 and 2007 and including recommended principles to be observed in the draft guidelines for a proposed policy and plan of action for decentralisation in The Gambia was raised. And the adoption of recommendations that were already validated in 2003 with regards to the establishment of a communication strategy is suggested. This continuation is also interspersed with limited policy and sector highlights and analysis by way of an attempt to draw attention and inspire reflection on the related discussion issues.

2.5.1   Transfer of competences

With the passing of the local government Act 2002 and the holding of democratic local government elections in April 2002, some line departments of state whose activities directly relate to the decentralization process began to initiate actions (some times with   cautious) but positive self assessments in sharpening their state of preparedness for meeting the challenges posed in the Act for the transfer of local government competences to councils. In terms of real achievements in this as at 2008, it must be noted that not much has taken place yet.

According to a report prepared by Dr. Alieu Gaye in 2003, the Department of Health for example had prepared a policy framework containing important recommendations that should guide decentralization in the local government areas, and had developed a five year strategic plan which among other things drew attention to the need for effective community involvement in the planning and implementation of health programmes in various localities. The report sought to encourage stakeholders (donors local and international agencies, interest groups and the private sector) in the planning and implementation of health services in the country.

Another study in 2003 on the decentralization of educational services by Mr Baboucar Boye (Permanent Secretary) - noted the "convergence of views between personnel from the education sector and stakeholders outside on the state of preparedness for decentralization".

He observed that "given the existing regional structures established by his department, the local government authorities agreed that in terms of preparedness to transfer the delivery of educational services, the presence of the regional education offices with staff compliments put education in a much better position for decentralization". The report however called for very careful planning arrangements to enhance the smooth transfer of educational services from the centre to the local authorities. Another report on the decentralisation of agriculture and natural resources, prepared by Messrs Omar Sonko and Mamour Jagne, (consultants) observed the need for more awareness creation in the sector before actual implementation of decentralisation.

The report noted that apart from the chairpersons of councils and councillors, all indications were that the staff of technical departments and those of local governments felt the process should have been preceded with a longer period of sensitization and awareness creation". The report concluded with a number of recommendations including more advocacies among local institutions including chiefs, alkalos and other local leaders. It called for improved housing and other facilities for staff in rural areas to motivate qualified staff deployment in those areas.  

It is still the departments of state that set up sector based policies which define the levels of allocation of resources and competences

Four years after the enactment of the finance and audit act 2004, and six years after the local government act 2002, not withstanding the prescriptions on global competences for councils in their territories in economic and social matters, it is still the departments of state that set up the sector based policies which define the levels of allocation of resources and competences.

The elaboration of these sector policies and the allocation of the required competences have not been taking into account the already granted or acknowledged competences of the councils. This is certainly an overlap between the maps of competences in sector–based policies between the local level and the de-concentrated structures of line departments of state. In health, education and agriculture for instance, the powers of councils still do not seem to be acknowledged by the departments of state and they exert little or no influence in the definition of policy in the sectors.  

2.6.1   Decentralisation policy and plan of action

For the Gambia, decentralisation constitutes a key cornerstone of the PRSP strategy to improve service delivery to the poor. It falls in line with government policy in its purpose of building up the capacities of local councils and communities so that they can play a leading role in support of government efforts in poverty alleviation and in the financing and management of local development.

It involves the devolution of appropriate powers, functions and resources from the central government to appropriate levels of local government control. It enhances the legitimacy and functionality of local government authorities which have now been made more glaring and better defined, with responsibilities which have made them more important, diversified and complex. In the texts the councils are perceived as full stakeholders in economic and social development.

They are expected to fulfil the government mission of continuity, presence and proximity in their areas, and they are expected to handle the consolidation of the necessary spatial and institutional environment for the actions of economic operators. The constitution and existing local government legislations have virtually restructured the public sector through large scale fiscal and functional decentralization. They stipulate that local governments shall be responsible for the provision of education, health, agriculture, forestry, water resources, road maintenance and other basic services to the local communities.

Decentralization as in empowering local communities and localising the delivery of basic services to citizens is a highly embraced concept in Europe and America. In many African, Asian and Latin American countries however, it has been pursued only with varying degrees of success.

Its appeal as a public policy agenda in post independent countries lies in the promise it holds for reform and the introduction of a new system of governance that focuses on those sections of the populations that tend to be by-passed in decision making processes. In the Gambia, the constitutional provisions form the basis of government policy and the existing legislative enactments on local government.

These have given rise to laws which are premised on basic principles which highlight the need for actions in five main thematic areas that need to be put into consideration as the basis of a consolidated plan of action: (1) Building adequate capacity in both central and local government institutions involved in the decentralization process to move the process forward. (2) Developing and implementing a communication and information strategy that would reach out to the majority of Gambians (3) Building an effective coordination and monitoring machinery at the department of state for local government, lands and religious affairs. (4) Building a sound, accountable and well managed financial base in the councils and local communities. (5) Establishing in all council areas, effective council planning structures to facilitate participatory planning and development.

The law however is only a statement of our intentions and its essence lies in the realisation of positive and dynamic indicators linked with its conception and enforcement. The success of this Plan of Action can only depend on the performance of all its constituent variables, including the crucial role of the donor community, NGOs, civil society, private sector organisations and other interested stakeholders. The policy and plan of action should contain a common vision and agreed actions to be undertaken by all stakeholders. It should aim at consolidating the structures and the of building capacities in the system in the years ahead that will ensure that decentralisation takes hold and delivers the expected results.

2.7.1   Public and stake holder engagement

The observation made in the earlier chapters about awareness creation among local institutions and local leaders was reinforced in a report prepared by Dr. Siga fatima Jagne in 2003 on a communications strategy for decentralisation in the Gambia. The report argues for the need to develop attitudinal change and dialogue among the citizenry, making all citizens relevant and indispensable partners in the development process. It called for a strategy that should seek to obtain clear roles for all the stakeholders, ensure clear understanding of the principles of decentralisation especially for elected officials and the active participation of the populations in general.

In another consultancy report on civil society participation in decentralisation in The Gambia, Swaebou Conateh (2003) found that "the question of decentralization was problematic as the term was not well understood or disseminated countrywide. He noted though that there was great interest in it and many of those he contacted found great potential and possibilities in its full implementation in terms of the development and democratization process of the country. This report also stressed the need for a communication strategy and advised for its implementation as a matter of urgency.  Dr Jagne suggested that a Communications Unit and a Task Force need to be created in the Department of state for local government lands and religious affairs with management and coordination of the Task Force at four (4) levels: national, regional, ward and village.

2.7.2  national level

At the national level there should be a national advisory committee (NAC) or Task Force on communications at the department of state for local government lands and religious affairs. There should be a communication unit at the directorate of local governance under the NAC which should serve as the information dialogue and communication centre.

The membership of the NAC should be drawn from the: department of state for information and technology, The Gambia press union, representative from area councils, chairperson women’s bureau, representative from TANGO, representative from national council for civic education (NCCE), representative from the national youth council, representative from public radio, representative of traditional communicators, representative of private and public newspapers.

The NAC will function mainly as an advisory body on policy and strategic issues especially on the implementation of the communications strategy, and additionally be part of an overall advisory body on decentralization that would assist the department of state for local government lands and religious affairs to oversee the process.

2.7.3   regional level

A communications unit should be established in councils as focal points in the regions. The units will link up with the TAC and MDFT’s in planning, coordinating and implementing activities (inclusive of community radios, video halls etc) for effective information acquisition and dissemination.

2.7.4  ward Level

sub committees should consist of MDFT and WDC members, these should facilitate implementation activities and provide feedback on key policy issues, achievements, constraints etc and reactions from the general public.

2.7.5  village level

Sub-committees should consist of VDC and MDFT members. The sub committees should be mainly responsible for implementation arrangements and coordination at the grassroots level

2.8.1 Implementation issues

At around 7% the current rate at which The Gambian economy is growing is impressive, compared to many countries in Africa.

For the benefits of economic growth to continue reaching the poorest people at the grass roots on a sustainable basis, councils and other local institutions and associations which have to convey the new opportunities must be empowered legally and strengthened with the required financial and human resources. Six years after the enactment of the legislation on decentralization and the establishment of the structural outline as described in the chapter below, implementation of the process is much slower than anticipated.

The councils still do not feel the full strength of empowerment promised in the Acts. General awareness of the law and the process is low among the population and even among members of the local government system. The transfer to autonomous elected local governments the responsibility for devolved functions and associated authority, power and resources is essential to the process, but the transfers of finances and sector competences have not been realised yet anywhere, and generally councils’ absorptive capacities are deemed too low for increased responsibilities.

Transferring functions should be conducted in a systematic manner through laid out guidelines and in tandem with the transfer of concomitant resources and the building of capacities in the councils and in the local communities. Care needs to be taken not to simply down-load responsibilities to councils, which do not have the necessary capacity or resources. Even in the urban councils institutional, managerial and technological capacities need great improvement, and the situation is even more critical in the rural councils.

The local governance process refers to the actions of the network of key actors involved in local development in the local government areas. These include: the council (staff, mayors/chairmen and councilors), regional governors, staff of line-departments, private sector operators, NGOs and community based organizations (CBOs), Village Development Committees and Ward Development Committees. A core problem for the Gambia presently however, is that the local governance system may not be fit for the purpose it is expected to serve, given the constitutional provisions and other requirements of the decentralization legislation.

Strong efforts are needed for greater institutional and human resources capacity building within civil society organisations and NGO partners. Decentralisation is a wide ranging national agenda and process. Section 90 of the local government Act 2002 places the responsibility for planning and development of the local government areas with the councils but the process presents a nationally endorsed framework for the conduct of the local democracy and local development. It is inclusive in character, and it is in line with the underlying principles of the new public management (NPM) and public private partnership. (PPP) The laws recognise the critical role civil society organisations, NGOs and the private sector can play in the process of local democracy and development.  They are an important complement to government in the exercise of public policy and depending on their individual agenda they could play a myriad of roles as educators, advocators and service providers.

2.8.2  Implementation framework

With regards to the implementation framework for the processes and procedures above, the local government act 2002 provides for local government areas and structures with central and local government jurisdictions running side by side at three prescribed tiers of local governance: the village, the district, and the region.

In addition to the department of state at the national level with the overall responsibility for the implementation of local government policy, executive councils which direct the affairs of local governance in particular with local development and service delivery at regional and local levels are placed at the regional level, with statutory functions to: exercise political and, executive powers and functions; provide basic services, promote on a sound basis for community development and self help, protect the constitution and other laws of The Gambia, and promote democratic governance, and censure implementation and compliance with government Policy.

The wards which also coincide with the electoral units of the local government areas with their ward development committees are placed within the districts and the village development committees are placed at village level. The act prescribes at each level of local governance a central government structure with the responsibility for ensuring the protection of government policy and programmes generally and including those with regards to the formulation and implementation of the decentralisation process.

Appointing members of local bodies by central government authority may be seen as infringing on the principle of self- administration but paradoxically this helps in ensuring a representation of the sociological diversity of the local government area.

The measure is meant to ensure at least a minimum representation of the youth, women and the socio-economic forces. Further the law recognises a system of exercise of local competencies, which should ensure a large participation of local stakeholders in their diversity

Councils and ward and village development committees are heterogeneously composed, each with a chairman or mayor the ward chairman is the councillor elected by universal adult suffrage. The council comprises a representative of the traditional ruler/chief, in the case of KMC, an (Alkalo) who is nominated by the mayor or chairman (not) applicable in the case of Banjul, a nominated representative of the youths, nominated representative of the women, (in cases) where more than 2/3 of the elected members are men, with the approval of the secretary of state for local government.

Appointing members of local bodies by central government authority may be seen as infringing on the principle of self- administration but paradoxically this helps in ensuring a representation of the sociological diversity of the local government area. The measure is meant to ensure at least a minimum representation of the youth, women and the socio-economic forces. Further the law recognises a system of exercise of local competencies, which ensures a large participation of local stakeholders in their diversity. Except the chairman of the ward development committee who is elected by universal adult suffrage, other members the committee as well as all members of the village development committees are selected by the communities with the facilitation of the MDFTs.     

Kemo Conteh is the former director of local governance, Department of state for local government, lands and religious affairs now he is the Senior Partner, Governance Development and Management Services (GDMS) A consultancy firm at

9 Mamadi Manyang Highway, Kanifing Industrial Estate :    Tel 4393393

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.

As information and communication technology continues to gain ground and become more relevant with a positive impact on the economy in the Gambia, Mr LassanaTunkara, the Senior Manager for Corporate Affairs of QuantumNet Group, explained in-depth the positive impact of IT system on travel agents, tour operators and on tourists in term of the usefulness of IT awareness in the tourism industry.

In a simple language IT is the modern way of using computers to communicate and get information through research, about the knowledge of what we are short of. It is the best way of communication. IT relates to tourism in many ways hence the only option before the advent of IT globally if you wanted to travel any where you have to walk from your house down to the street to get the local agency either as outbound and inbound tourist.

At the agency office you might searched endlessly through the brochure without immediate success and this can take you few days to do and get you frustrate. But with the advent of IT this can be done online, sitting on your bedroom as a tourist you can get all the necessary information without stress, this is just a matter of settling down with your laptop in your house and log into your desire website. So IT opens up the possibilities for tourism.

The tourism industry has proved particularly suitable for the adoption of information technology because of its dependence upon the supply and exchange of information throughout the production and distribution chain. As an extremely information intensive industry, tourism is undergoing rapid and radical modern changes. A wide range of opportunities discover on daily basis through the use of information and communication technology. Now information technology is being used for a variety of functions in the tourism industry, ranging from an internal organization role to external communication between different parts of the industry. The continuous development of information technology has profound implications for the whole tourism industry.  

Today, a wide range of tourism sectors is taking the advantage of the information superhighway. Technology facilitates the speed and efficiency with which information of the tourism industry is processed, stored, retrieved, distributed and otherwise manipulated. Information technology can reduce costs of information handling, increase speed of information transfer and retrieval and increase customer involvement in the control of transactions. It has flexibility of product specifications and greater reliability of information transferred.  

According to Tunkara “in few other areas of activity are the generation; gathering; processing; application and communication of information are as important for day-to-day operation as they are for the travel and tourism industry.”  The most important role of information technology is the development of competitive advantages by both reducing cost and enhancing differentiation.  The most area that information technology improves tourism most are in four main areas, the delivery of tourism services; tourism management, marketing of the industry; with the relationship between the producers, destinations and consumers, tourists.

Information technology has radically altered the way in which information is transmitted throughout the tourism industry. Hence, it changes the way in which tourism services are delivered. Because consumer expectations are rising rapidly, the move towards more independent and flexible holidays away from package holidays, with the emergence of a computer literate generation, requires the service providers to find new ways to satisfy tourists’ needs. Thus, it offers new opportunities for information technology and the tourism industry.

Talking about the benefits of this in the industry we have airlines, tour operators, travel agencies hotels; car rental, destinations and tourists who always need the information.

Booking for your holiday or hotel reservation is now easier since you can do them online.

Equally payment can be done online by issuing credit cards and other means of latest remittance of fees or charges without stress like in Europe, where some people use Eurostar system when they are travelling. You can search for all the airlines by going through their websites before you finally make a choice. Also from a thousand miles you can locate your destination when you are still at your doorstep.

IT has makes all this easier. The introduction of IT in the Gambia has bring a lot of changes to the industry and it has tremendously exposed the country to the world tourism market because majority of people visiting the Gambia now get most of their information about the country on the website.

‘Information technology has really brought big and tremendous changes to the industry because using the technology has no limitation.’ Therefore talking about the impact of tourism in the Gambia, the country is gaining more.

For effective communication and customers attraction grand cable is the best. Wi-fi is the best for the hotels. Wi-fi is the wireless access, wherever you  are accommodated, you can use your laptop, mobile phone, among others to log online and do your work as you wish without qualm. This type of service is in used at Kairaba Hotel and some hotels across the country ,they were excellently installed by QuantumNet ,who always look for new things in the world of information and communication technology.

Today, information technology (IT) is one of the important resources for increasing the economic growth. It causes companies to use their input resources as much as possible in an effective way. As investment in IT capital accounts for an ever-increasing share of capital investment, it is important to understand how these investments might pay.

Generally, there has been much debate on whether or not the investment in IT provides improvements in productivity and business efficiencies. IT investment may make little direct contribution to overall performance of business industry until they are combined with complementary investments in business activities, human capital, and company restructuring.

Therefore, according to role of QuantumNet as  IT facilitator and enabler, it is valuable and advisable for companies to increase the impact of IT on overall performance of companies. On the other word, your investment in ICT will not been in vain ,instead it will improve productivity with good dividend.

The executive committee of the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN) Gambia Chapter, yesterday, paid a courtesy call on the vice-president, Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy, in her office at State House, Banjul.

The delegation was led to State House by AMMREN country coordinator, Mr Pa Modou Faal, who briefed the vice-president on the activities of AMMREN, as a sub-regional body and the national chapter.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Faal told the vice-president that AMMREN is a network of journalists, scientists and health workers, working to eradicate the scourge of malaria in the continent. He said the network focuses mainly on the dissemination of updates and information on malaria initiatives, as well as participating in monitoring and implementing malaria policies in Africa.  

“AMMREN also advocates and engages policy makers to implement international agreements on malaria control, to further complement governments efforts,”  he added.

The AMMREN Gambia coordinator also informed the vice-president about the nomination of Sambou Suso as a goodwill ambassador of the national chapter, as well as their strong degree of collaboration with the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), MRC, CIAM, and TAYAM, among other partners in the fight against malaria.

Mr Malang Fofana, the manager of the NMCP, said the combined efforts of AMMREN, other partners, and the political commitment of the government has reduced the burden of malaria considerably. Mr Fofana pointed to Operation Eradicate Malaria, Operation Clean the Nation and the nationwide DDT spraying, as being among the initiatives that are helping in the fight against malaria.

In response, Vice-President Njie-Saidy welcomed the initiative and commended AMMREN for its achievements since its formation.  She called on other networks to emulate the efforts of AMMREN Gambia, describing it as a genuine model of developmental journalism.

VP Saidy also promised government’s full support to the network and called on the NMCP to continue working closely with AMMREN, especially in the area of awareness on the disease.  

At the end of the courtesy call, Mr Faal presented the first edition of the AMMREN magazine - Eyes on Malaria - to the vice-president. The visit was also attended by members of the National Security Council.

Njawara Agricultural Training Centre (NATC) in collaboration with the Methodist Mission Agricultural Project (MMAP) recently, organised a one-day sensitisation forum at Njawara Village in the North Bank Region (NBR).

The event which is part of the Excel project, and sponsored by Concern Universal, brought together NGOs, Community Based Organisations (CBOs)    and government institutions, across the region.

Delivering the opening remarks on behalf of the Governor of NBR, Dankunku Dampha, the IEC regional electoral officer in Kerewan, described the occasion as important, adding that the forum will provide unique opportunities to create both mutual understanding and to forster relationship between various institutions operating in the region.

According to him, government has created the conducive environment for NGOs’ operation in the country, noting that their contribution towards the socio-economic development of the country cannot be over emphasized.

He called on the NGOs, CBOs and other institutions in the region to collaborate and work together to improve capacity building and awareness campaign on key issues about government’s development objectives. He hailed the NATC for their efforts in the development process and also thanked Concern Universal for building the capacities of NGOs in the region.

For his part, Badara Jobe, NATC director, gave an overview of the centre’s strategic development goals and objectives, noting that, their aim is to contribute to the country’s drive towards the attainment of food self sufficiency and poverty reduction by creating self-reliance and empowerment opportunities for women and youths, inorder to enhance livelihood in the farming communities of the region.

According to him, key operational area’s been under taken by the centre includes networking with partners.

He highlighted capacity building, agro-forestry and natural resource management, enterprise development, income generation and gender awareness, as some of the key areas that the centre is focusing on from 2005 to date.

He urged the farmers to take good care of their animals.

Speaking earlier, Tamba Kinteh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kerewan Area Council who also doubles as a board member of NATC, in his remarks, thanked the participants for honouring their invitations.  He encouraged stakeholders to join hands with his council and work towards the development of the region.

Lamin Dibba, director of NGO Affairs, commended NATC for organising such a forum and emphasised the need for NGOs to work together.

Other speakers include Sheriff Gomez of Gamjobs, Mam Biram of ADWAC, Haruna Kuyateh of World View International, Yaya Sanyang, Foday Kanyi of MMAP, among others.

Certificates were awarded to outstanding farmers and the occasion was attended by residents of Njawara and the surrounding villages.