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Current Feed ContentVP receives Senegalese envoy
Friday, August 29, 2008 The vice-president and secretary of state for Women's Affairs, Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy, on Thursday morning, received in her office, a Senegalese envoy, Mr Mame Birane Diouf. As the Senegalese minister of Culture and Heritage, Mr Diouf told journalists in an interview that he was in The Gambia to convey a special message to the Gambian leader, President Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, on a festival to be organised in Senegal. This festival, according to the Senegalese envoy, is aimed at promoting unity among African countries and "we also want to raise the African flag to higher heights." Lamenting the status of the continent, Mr Diouf said that looking at the African continent, one could clearly tell that civilisation came from Africa. "Even during the most difficult times in the world (colonial era), Africa was organised," he posited, and he then went on: “We are all one, but it is the languages that divided us”. The Senegalese envoy told reporters that Vice-President Njie-Saidy underscored the importance of the already existing relations between The Gambia and Senegal during their discussion. Meanwhile, a group of visiting youth coordinators from the International Baby Food Network (IBFAN) Africa was also received by the vice-president. The visiting delegation, comprising five young people from the East African countries of Uganda, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Zambia, were led to the Office of the Vice President by Mr Malang Fofana of the National Nutrition Agency (NaNA), who is the national coordinator, IBFAN Gambia. Shortly after their audience with the vice-president, Mr Fofana told reporters that their audience with Dr Njie-Saidy offered them the opportunity to discuss infant and young child feeding, as well as issues that affect youths in general. He disclosed that the youth representatives were in the country to exchange ideas with their Gambian counterparts on the youth programmes, in a bid to involve young people in promotion of infant feeding in The Gambia. IBFAN Africa, Mr Fofana said, has in the past few years been engaged in capacity building projects, aimed at improving the networks in developing countries, as well as sharing experiences of best practices. He said that they chose The Gambia this time round because of the efficiency and organised nature of its youth networks. The visiting youths, who are coordinators of the various youth bodies in their respective countries, are in The Gambian “to familiarise themselves with the way youths in The Gambia are doing things”. Author: by Kemo Cham IBFAN Gambia chapter holds AGM Tuesday, August 19, 2008 IBFAN Gambia chapter, on Saturday, organised its second annual general meeting (AGM) at the NaNA conference room in Bakau. The theme for this year’s AGM was “Demonstrating commitment, responsibility and self worth is doing what is right”. The vision of IBFAN Gambia chapter is to create an enabling environment for mothers, families and care givers to make informed decisions about infant and young child feeding based on the best available medical evidence and without pressure from baby milk manufacturers. IBFAN also promotes the health and nutritional wellbeing of infants, young children and mothers. Presenting a report of IBFAN Gambia Chapter activities, Malang N Fofana, national coordinator, IBFAN Gambia Chapter, underscored some of the activities accomplished by his organisation. According to him, they sensitized 35 youths from 14 youth groups and 50 women group leaders from Banjul and Kanifing municipalities. He said “participants were youth leaders and were sensitised on the importance and benefits of breastfeeding”. Other speakers at the AGM included Modou C Phall, executive director of NaNA, and Bakary Jallow, senior programme officer at NaNA. Author: by Sheriff Barry NaNa gets IBFAN Award Tuesday, October 23, 2007 The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) Africa, a pro-advocacy network that promotes and supports optimal infant and young child-feeding practicies (IYCF), has awarded a certificate of appreciation to the National Nutrition Agency (NaNa). This is due to the recognition of the outstanding contrbutions of NaNa in the activities of IBFAN in the promotion of the rights of women and children. Speaking to the Daily Observer, Malang Fofana of NaNa, who doubles as the National Co-ordinator of IBFAN, said the award is in recognition of Nana’s significant achievements in the area of Baby Friendly Community Initiative (BFCI). According to him, BCFI’s programme inspired countries like Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, thus prompting them to visit The Gambia, in oder to exchange and study how the programme was implemented in the country. He said the action plan developed by The Gambia is geared towards the designation of six health facilities, including Bansang, Basse, Essau, Soma, Farrafenni and the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital as ‘baby friendly’ by the year 2010. This is all geared towards focusing on national scaling of Baby Friendly Health Initiative (BFHI) and Baby Friendly Community Initiative (BFCI) to ensure improved cordination among network members . Author: by Buya Jammeh Source: The Daily Observer Newspaper |
